Meanwhile, in Sora's Heart
by The Dismotivator
Summary: This is what you get when the multiple inhabitants of Sora's spacious heart are put into one building with hundreds of floors filled with only the most surreal things. What happens, exactly? Do you want the story to be spoiled? Find out yourself, but for fair warning, it will be odd.
1. Another Use for Replicas

Heya, 's me, The Dismotivator, here with a waste of time, which may of may not just be the realization of some fangirl's imagination.

Probably isn't, since I found artwork about a semi-similar concept in Dev- art. Bleh, whatever, now stop listening to my babbling and get to the real stuff.

Disclaimer: KH and all related logos and companies have not yet been conquered by Dismotivation, Inc. So, it's not mine.

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><p><strong><em>Chapter 1: In Which Demyx's Water Clones Irritate Xion<em>**

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><p>"Who else will I have ice cream with?" She'd love to answer, but she had already left her body, and now, she's returning to Sora, where she was supposed to be. What would it be like in Sora's heart? Maybe as bright and happy as he was? Or maybe it was as lifeless and empty as the castle. either way, it was where she was supposed to be.<p>

Xion opened her eyes. _Strange,_ she thought. Sora's heart was colorful. Pictures of his friends were on the floor, each in a circle and blue, with him on one side, eyes closed and colored fully. Recalling who she'd heard of, she recognized Riku, Donald, Goofy and... was that her?

_No, that's Kairi, _she reminded herself. Xion took a few steps forward to get a better look at the girl, when she heard a low whirring sound, and stopped dead in her tracks. One of the crown symbols next to Goofy was disappearing, and black stairway became visible from under it. Curious, she walked that way instead, asking herself where in The End of the World those stairs could lead to.

She was so shocked at what she found, she had to push her jaw back up to make sure no flies got in and threw a party in her mouth.

The staircase led to a luxurious living room, set with two wide couches and a multipurpose table at the center. On one side, a television set as wide as the glass portion of the floor in the Grey Area, and as thin as the handle on her keyblade showed her reflection, looking good as new. One corner had a small, round table adorned with a golden shade lamp, where a telephone – likely unused – waited to be picked up.

It appeared to her that Sora's heart was actually just a fancy hotel with an extremely fancy rooftop. Underwater.

Xion took a seat on the left couch and picked the remote up. Just before she pressed the power button, a door at the corner opened, and out popped a boy bearing a striking resemblance to Roxas... except without a shirt. The door shut immediately, while Xion stared and listened to rushed footsteps, likely going away from her. Seconds later, the same person came back, now fully clothed, in a white shirt and cream-colored shorts, while his feet were in fuzzy green slippers.

"Roxas?" Xion blurted out.

"Kairi?" Ven blatted.

She pointed to herself. "Xion."

"Ventus." His thumb pointed at him.

"Oh, sorry," Xion muttered shyly, "It's just, you look so much like him."

"Roxas, you mean?" Ventus responded, a little less nervous than before. "You look like Kairi. Which is a creepy coincidence."

"Yeah..." Xion wracked her brain for something to say.

An awkward silence hugged the room like a little girl would on a stuffed toy and refused to let go. It ran away, luckily, when Ven made a suggestion. "Wanna go play some games with me?"

"Sure," Xion replied, her eyes bright. They both made their way through a door on the right side of the room to another room, which had a door with "NO KEYBLADE, NO ENTRY" written in black marker. "Keyblade?"

"Yeah..." Ventus said, looking at the floor, "I had two friends a long time ago. The three of use practiced using Keyblades together, but we got seperated at some point." He paused. "I haven't seen them since." He recalled two people one boy and one girl, with brown hair and blue. "I hope they're still okay."

"I used to use a Keyblade, too," Xion said brightly. Ven perked up at this. "Roxas and I both used Keyblades, but Roxas was always a week of practice better than I was." She turned to him. "What are your friends' names?"

"Terra and Aqua," Ven answered.

"'Terra sounds like a girl's-"

"Yes it does," he suddenly interrupted. Xion understood and let a small smile play at her lips. "Y'know, I'm really glad I got someone else to be with in here. this place is so... lifeless." He smiled at her and walked into his room. She followed and closed the door behind her, and they began to play a game of Mario Kart, then Kingdom Hearts 2, which Xion was shocked to discover. Ventus, however, explained that it was just a very peculiar and unlikely coincidence, and the two began to play, taking turns every now and then. A few hours passed, but the last half hour yielded less fruit than the last few, for Xion and Ventus encountered a boss that they both considered extremely difficult. Finally, Xion shouted in a fit of frustration.

"AARGH! Why is it so hard to beat those water clones?" she exclaimed angrily, "And I thought Demyx was a wimpy slacker!"

"Guess Sora and company aren't that fast," Ventus said.

"Great. Now what?" Xion crossed her arms and dropped the controller, thinking about something to do. If they were in Twilight Town, she'd have no trouble dropping a half-eaten ice cream on the head of an unsespecting passerby, but they were alone, and she wasn't seated high enough above Ventus to drop anything on his head. In fact, he was using Xion's head as a popcorn stand while he sat on the bed and watched her fail at beating Demyx.

Suddenly, Xion remembered something. "Why weren't you wearing a shirt when you saw me?"

Ventus nearly choked on a seed of unpopped popcorn as he heard 'shirt'. He coughed it out and cleared his throat before speaking. "When you stay alone in a hotel for, ahem, ten years, you stop caring."

"Well, you're not alone now, buddy-that-looks-like-my-other-buddy," Xion warmly said, forgetting about that one boss that neither she nor he could beat no matter how much level grinding they did.

"I know," he answered, smiling. He popped another piece of popcorn into his mouth.

"...And another thing, Ven."

"Yeah?"

"Please stop eating on my head."

"Fine."

Shortly later, Xion felt something cold atop her head, followed by a slurping sound.

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><p>Recently, I have defeated the Vanitas Remnant. It was hard, and needed jumping, explosions, and ice cream.<p>

...Yeah, I beat the most evil force in the game using a keyblade made of Ice cream. I didn't even hit him, because I swear, ice cream flew out of my keyblade and KILLED HIM. Yeah, so apparently, you can beat him by flinging a scoop of blueberry ice cream at his face.

Oh, and tell me if this is worth continuing, 'cause I'm not sure if the concept is okay or not. Thanks for allowing me to waste a few minutes of your time reading this.

..If this _is _continued, however, I will try to make it better.


	2. Universal Soundtrack

So, then. After finding one anonymous review and two alerts, I decided to post another chapter of this not-so-phenomanal waste of time here. Buuuut Roxas hasn't arrived yet. If this goes on long enough he'll probably get here around chapter 7. *Roxas fangirls throw rocks at me* Run, run away!

Oh, and lemme warn you, this thing has no definitive genre, so I just put 'humor' there 'cause I just can't take my stories too seriously for too long.

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Two: One of Those Who Need A Hug<strong>_

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><p>"Hey Ven, do you have any pyjamas I can use?" Xion asked in foresight. It saw almost bedtime, she noticed. Though time stood still in Sora's heart and kept Ventus youthful, both of them seemed to still feel human needs, one of them being sleep. They made a decision: after yawning thirteen times, you have to go to bed. Making her twelvth yawn, she examined the game board while atop a prize cube.<p>

"Of course," Ventus responded. He was in the Holo-room, playing a command board game with Xion. He decided to use his hand and roll three dice at the expense of two magic commands.

"Cool, where can I find them?" Xion asked as she watched Ventus skip to a red checkpoint.

"At your room, in the closet," he said, gaining enough GP to win.

"Alright, thanks," she said, weighing her options before choosing her next move. Checking her hand, she found a Joker's Fortune effect card, and payed for it with her Joker. The reel stopped at Double Toll. Not much, but she tried.

Ventus, confident that he would win, rolled a four. After looking in all directions – including directly above him – his palm flew to his forehead, leaving a brilliant red mark.

Xion chuckled and grinned the way Luxord would have if he were in her situation. It seemed that she had somehow surrounded Ventus with several of her own high–leveled panels. This would prolong the game for a bit. Smiling, she watched Ventus reluctantly walked to Xion's Ars Arcanum panel, losing more GP than what he gained on the check panel, and sending it to Xion.

Still, she wouldn't win yet. Not with a measly 3582 GP. "I really need to get used to commands." She sighed to herself.

Ventus yawned with a hand over his mouth. "Wanna call it a day and get back at it tomorrow?"

Xion nodded drowsily. With that, they suspended the program and walked to the elevator. Xion sat in a corner and watched the number above the door go down. Ignoring the soft rumble that accompanied the slight tremble of the elevator, Ventus took a short nap on Xion's shoulder.

A ding resounded. "Agh!," Ventus shouted in surprise, "The eyes! Terra, help! Where are you?" He shot a series of frightened glances around the elevator before he found Xion, who stared at him dully, an eyebrow raised. "Oh. Sorry. Bad dream." He helped himself up.

"How can you have a bad dream in the elevator, on my shoulder?" Xion asked, following Ventus out of the elevator.

"You can have dreams while you're awake, can't you?" he answered. Xion just shrugged.

After what seemed like half and hour, Ventus was on his bed, in his striped pyjamas, staring blankly at the ceiling. The faint blue glow of his night light seemed to do little in comparison to the ray of moonlight that slipped through the curtains. Slowly, his eyelids became heavier and heavier, and his soul seemed to settle in the silence, lulling him to sleep. In the darkness, his eyes relaxed.

In Ventus's dream, he saw two pairs of golden eyes staring at him in a black expanse of nothingness. One pair looked down on him in a condescending manner, as if it could see the future and retell the past, while the other exhibited malicious intent, directed entirely towards him alone. Below the second pair of eyes, a wide, toothy grin unveiled itself, looking as evil as a human could be. Two laughs echoed in his mind, one old and raspy, but full of vigor, while the other was low and smooth, somehow offending him just by the confidence and pride it showed. Ventus wanted to run from them, but no matter where he turned, they followed.

Then the laughter abrubtly stopped. He looked to his left, then his right, and found no signs of the two. He turned around and stopped when he heard a metallic ring from a small cloud covered in purple lightning. The cloud dissipated, and from it, he could make out the shape of red gears and black chains. He knew he'd seen these things before, but he couldn't remember where or when. He blinked twice and saw his own face mixed with those golden eyes and toothy sneer. Wherein the gears and chains meemed to vanish, an enormous sword of two crossing keyblades took its place in the boy's hand. He raised it–

_...Pat pat pat pat..._

His eyelids snapped open and instictively focused on the door, where he heard a faint patting sound come from the hallway. He glanced at the floor directly under it. _Pitch black._The darkness seemed to seep into the room like a living, malevolent poison, edging it's way towards him, wanting to ensnare him in its talons, just like the two in his dream.

_...Pat pat pat pat pat pat pat..._

He heard it again, but from the ceiling. He glanced up there before burying his head under his blacket, squeezing his eyes shut, avoiding thoughts of the noise and shadow. He could still feel their presences, circling him like a hungry animal.

_Pat pat pat..._

...Did it stop?

...It stopped.

He warily pulled the blanket away from his face, slightly calmer than just a few seconds before. He started to sit up...

_CRASH!_

He froze. His hands began to shake. He began to feel a suffocating chill settle in his chest. A familiar chill.

_...Shuffle. Pat pat pat pat..._

Above him, from the crash, he heard a few objects move, causing a shuffling sound. Soon after, the soft patting sounds came again from out the hallway, getting louder, as if coming towards him.

_PAT PAT...PAT PAT pat pat pat..._

Whatever was making the noise stopped at his door for a moment, and went away quickly.

Ventus couldn't take it anymore. He jumped out of bed and yanked the door open, running into the hallway. Xion's room was a few rooms to his right. Unable to see in the darkness, he put his hand to the wall and ran lightly, feeling whatever bumps he would pass. Once his fingers ran over four other doors, he found the doorknob of the fifth room and turned it gently with a click.

Opening the door slowly, he crept into the room, finding Xion fast asleep on her bed, serene and detached from the world outside.

"Xion..." he whispered, making his way to her bed. She didn't stir.

"Hey, Xion." He shook her shoulder. Xion mumbled something about ice cream and duct tape as she rolled over.

"Xion. Xion!" No matter how many times he shouted her name at her ear, Xion did not awaken. Ventus was at a loss. How would he wake her up?

Searching around the room for something to wake her up with, he found a glass of water. He contemplated pouring it over her head, but decided to use it as a last resort. By its left, he found a CD player sitting next to a short stack of three disks. Picking one up, he read the label – Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Birth by Sleep Original Soundtrack disc 1.

"Sounds cool," he said. Browsing through the song titles, he happened to come across one named 'Terra'. "Terra?" He skimmed down the list, checking the other discs in the process. _Ventus... Aqua..._ and then he finds _Musique pour la Tristesse de__ Xion._ His mind lingered on the comparatively fancy name, then let it pass."Maybe her own song will wake her up." He inserted the third disc into the player and selected track 6_._

"...Not bad," he commented, turning the volume up to eleven.

"..." Before a tear rolled down his face, he reluctantly turned the player off and switched the discs. When he found it, he set it to _Master, Tell Me the Truth. _

He pressed the 'play' button. "Gah!" He flinched when he heard thunderous trumpet that began the song. He crept to look at Xion.

Still asleep, he saw. Xion was one heavy sleeper. He caught a glimpse of a megaphone on her sidetable. Before questioning the place of a megaphone in a bedroom she just moved into, he picked it up and turned it on, then carefully thought of what to say.

"SINE!" No movement.

"COSINE!" Same response.

"TANGENT!" As usual, she merely rolled over, mumbling something about evil and pizza.

Ventus turned the megaphone off and put it back on the sidetable. The rest of the room was void of anything that could be used as a substitute for a broken alarm clock. that's when he found a note attached to the headboard.

**DRAWER 1, RING ONCE ABOVE EAR.**

_Drawer 1? _Right under the megaphone, a sticky note with a 1 written in cheap permanent marker was attached to the drawer's handle. He pulled on the handle. As he opened the drawer, he found a small tape recorder. _Ring once above ear. _He pressed the button that 'rang' the recorder.

"Sorry, we're all out of sea-salt ice cream," said the calm voice of an elderly man.

"NO!" Xion woke up with a start, quickly sitting upright on her bed. "Huh?" she said, "Oh, just a dream."

"Xion!"

"AGH!" She jumped out of bed and fell onto the floor, her knees now above her forehead. "Ow..."

"Uh, you alright?" Ventus walked over to find Xion in a position that seemed to be hurting her back.

"Yeah. I'm, ugh, fine." She kicked upwards and pushed up with her arms, landing onto the bed a little shakily. She sat and stretched after regaining balance. "So, Ven, what are you doing in my room?"

"Um, well," he stammered, "there was some noise, and, uh, I couldn't get to bed, so, could you help me find what's making it?" How unreasonable he was being.

Crossing her arms, she said, "You're _that_ light a sleeper?"

"You're a pretty heavy one. Even that megaphone couldn't get you up!"

"Yeah, I know." She laughed lightly. "I remember Roxas falling asleep for twenty days."

"...Whoa. That's probably not just heavy sleeping."

"Yeah..." She nodded and walked toward the door. "Well, we should get started on that missio – I mean, we should find that thing." She held the knob.

"H-Hey wait!" Ventus stuttered, "Shouldn't we bring something to fight with? Just in case?"

"You've got a point there..."

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><p>Their trip was quiet and pat-less, and after reaching the kitchen only armed with a frying pan and a plastic ruler, the duo made a beeline for the umbrellas. Ventus picked a green one up, while Xion got a white one. Each of them noticed something odd.<p>

"Xion," Ventus said, "you're holding it the wrong way." He referred to where the 'handle' of Xion's umbrella was; its end.

"I'm holding it the wrong way? _You're _holding yours the wrong way, Ven." She gestured to how Ventus held the umbrella. His thumb was opposite the 'blade'.

"No it's not," he answered, shaking his head. "This is how I fight. Backhand." He stepped away and made a few weak strokes to emphasize his point.

"Well, this is how I used my keyblade back when I still had it." She tapped the counter with the umbrella's heavy crook handle. "It's more of a mallet than a sword."

"So when you fight, it's like extreme whack-a-mole or something?"

"Pretty much. The moles like to whack you back, though."

"Do they ever," he agreed.

Ventus walked back to the door, Xion following close behind. They twisted and turned throug the hallways, every turn they made sent them to a dimmer tunnel, to the point that the hall they were in was completely black.

"That is one dark hallway," Xion remarked. And it was. Ventus couldn't see halfway through.

"Should we have brought a flashlight?" he asked.

"Maybe." Xion looked back at the hallway. The kitchen was quite a distance away.

"Do we go back?" Ventus asked. The lights above them went out just before he could catch Xion, nodding.

"...I guess it's a little late for that," she said.

"I guess so," Ventus said. His eyes aimlessly darted across the darkness, fruitlessly searching for anything that might emit some kind of glow. "So, now what do we for light?"

Xion stuffed her hand her pocket as she thought when she felt something circular and metallic. She pulled it out and examined it. The name "Extreme" was engraved onto the sides. She felt a lightbulb illuminate above her.

"Hey, we can use that for light!" Ventus said, pointing at the light bulb. The bulb flickered to death when he held it.

"Sorry, Ven, but you're not made of batteries." Xion got the light bulb and threw it in some direction behind her, where it shattered into one hundred seventy nine pieces of miserable glass shards. "Now, back to my idea-" another light bulb above her, but it didn't stay airborne and dropped on her head, then shared the tragic fate of its twin light bulb on the cold, lonely floor.

"What was your idea?"

"Watch this." Xion slid the ring onto her ring finger, and quickly hid the frailty she began to feel. Channeling all her energy into her weapon, she activated her final limit, Event Horizon. Ventus saw small shards of light float around her, allowing both of them to see in the dark.

"How did you do that?" he asked in awe.

"It's this thing I'm wearing." She held her hand up. "With this, I can keep using my final limit, which gives me a huge power boost, but I can't let enemies touch me, or I'm done."

"Alright, then. You can count on me to watch your back."

Xion ran into the dark hallway, lighting the way up with her Event Horizon. Every now and then, she had to recharge, but it only put them in a split second of blindness. Hopefully, she wouldn't trip and lose her single health point, leaving Ventus alone in the dark with an unknown entity crawling wherever it pleased. The only sounds she could hear were their footsteps, and the whisper of a breeze from a nearby window.

Ventus followed close behind, careful not to stray too far from Xion, but without his own light, they wouldn't be able to split up, forcing them to stay awake longer. Though he knew that, in situations like this, groups were safer, but they weren't at all faster. Passing by a few dusty doors, Ventus felt the air get a little colder.

They heard it.

_Pat pat pat pat pat..._

"What was that?" Xion asked.

"That's it. That was what I heard." Ventus directed his attention to the hall behind them, where they just came through. "C'mon. It came from over there." Xion followed Ventus into the hallway. As they went deeper, they noticed something far into the darkness.

It was white.

And moving.

Closer.

And closer.

"No. This can't be happening."

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><p>CLIFFHANGERRRR. No, not really. Sort of. Eh, dunno. Man, I suck at writing.<p>

I request feedback and criticism. ...Because I'm lonely. XD


	3. The Milk's Demise

Y'know, I'm actually surprised by the amount of people who actually are interested in this. Also, I am pleased. On another topic, I've made some edits to stuff I've made sometime ago. If you care, go ahead and look for them.

Note that I suck at writing, and anyone who thought that there would be a shocking revelation due to the cliffhanger of the previous chapter is about to feel punched in the face. So, brace yourself, this chappie's gonna suck. GRANDLY, I must add.

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><p><strong><em>Chapter Two: One of Those Who Need a Hug Part II<em>**

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><p>It was white.<p>

Swaying.

Moving.

Closer.

And Closer.

"No. This can't be happening." Ventus wouldn't believe what he saw.

"How...? How did this wind up here?" They were wondering the same thing. Ventus and Xion stared at it, jaws agape.

The kitchen door.

While this may not seem all that important during normal days, it scared the two, especially after their ordeal. After several long, unnnerving minutes of wandering the darkest, most lifeless halls of Sora's heart, looking behind their backs to prevent anything from creeping up behind them, Ventus and Xion grew weary of this search. It pained them to find all the time they spent in the face of the unknown, merely accompanied by fear and the want for some shut-eye.

"Did we really just run around in circles?" Xion asked. Though she had thought of running in circles, she could've sworn that the _door_ was the one coming closer, not them.

"We could've lost track of where we were going any time. This place is like some kind of maze or something."

Xion raised a questioning eyebrow. "Haven't you been here before?"

"I've been lots of places, but," he paused, arranging an explanation. "This is Sora's heart, isn't it? People can't stay the same forever. So if people change, their hearts change, too, don't they?"

"You mean this happens on a regular basis?"

"Yeah. I remember seeing this one room made of burgers one day. Sora seemed to crave some." He stared into space, recalling the memory of eating a hole in the wall for lunch.

Xion, however had no idea what Ventus was staring into space for, so she looked at the door. She noticed something. "Hey, Ven."

Ventus didn't seem to hear her.

"Ven." She waved her hand in his face. It didn't work, so she flicked his forehead.

"Whoa!" He looked like he just woke up. His head turned from left to right in a panic, and then settled on Xion's _dude-are-you-okay-you-look-kinda-sick _expression.

After Xion was sure that Ventus had settled down, she reverted her gaze back to the door, an odd idea forming in her mind immediately after. "Hey, Ven," she said, "You saw the door swinging a few seconds ago, right?"

"Um, Yeah."

"If it was swinging, and we weren't around to swing it, then that must mean..." Her voice trailed off, leaving Ventus to ponder about what her point was. Simultaneously, it occurred to them.

_That thing is right here._

They felt the temperature drop. They stood there, rigid, just staring at their reflection on the door's window. Both looked pale, even in the shadow, when there was the least color and light. Nothing moved. Not even the air. Ventus feared that _thing _much more than Xion did, considering the time he spent here. He was alone for such a long time, and to learn that there was something else here, something that could've been watching him for the past decade, it scared him...to death. Just like-

Just like what?

While he tried to remember what scared him, he came across a memory from a year ago.

A night like this. Cold. Quiet. Deserted. He was sleepy. Thirsty. Went to the fridge for a drink. But he found that someone had beaten him to it that night. He looked at the open refrigerator door, and heard some scuffling. He walked closer, and stepped around the door to find a girl, looking in the freezer for something. She seemed to notice him behind her, and turned to face him, an apple slice in her mouth. He saw blue eyes, red hair. She chewed and swallowed.

_"Hey, Ven, want some apples?"_

_"Sure, Kairi."_

He missed Kairi. That was the last night they spent with each other before Sora finally saved her from his heart. He didn't get to say goodbye. And now he wished he'd see her again, right now, stuffing herself with apples in the fridge, instead of a monster, hungry for him and his friend.

Ventus felt his throat run dry. He gulped. "N-now what?" He turned to Xion for help and for a second, she _was _Kairi. Literally. That second settled him down somehow. Seeing a friend in a near-stranger seemed to do that to him.

"I... I guess we should go inside and take a look," Xion quietly replied, failing to sound as calm as she tried to be. Why was she scared? She's faced much worse before. She's faced a Neoshadow, a army of deserters, an organization imposter, a Darkside, even her best friend...

Her head dropped, and her eye caught something. She figured out what made her so scared. Where was her keyblade? Where was Ventus's keyblade? Where were _they?_

"Well then, let's go." Ventus was smiling at her. His expression changed completely. What happened? What sort of epiphany manifested itself inside his mind during the last few seconds that suddenly made him so positive? Did her face change _again?_

Well, whetever effect his thoughts had on him had rubbed off on her, so why think about it?

Xion returned his smile. "Let's."

Leading, Ventus slowly pushed the kitchen door open, making a low creaking sound that made them cringe. His hand felt the wall for a light switch. Here it was.

_click_

Nothing happened.

_click click click_

"Ven? What's wrong?" Xion asked.

"The lights are broken," he answered, feeling sunken. "Tonight, of all nights."

"Well, we can still see." Xion went ahead of him and led the way again.

"Can we raid the fridge first?" Ventus suggested, suddenly recalling an old trick he used to use years ago.

"Um, why?"

"I'll show you if you'll let me."

Xion agreed to it and went to the refrigerator. Ventus opened it and pulled out a bowl of unusual pink ice cream. Two chocolate cookies were placed on either side of the scoop, making a shape that Xion associated with the Kingdom Key.

"Ice cream? At a time like this?" she questioned.

"Just step back and watch." Xion obeyed. He took a spoon and had a bite.

All of a sudden, there were six traslucent swords behind him, arranged in a wing-like pattern. Xion thought it was beautiful, until she heard something dripping. Her eyes following the strange sound, she found a puddle of white fluid on the floor. "What is that?"

Ventus followed her gaze, then looked in the fridge.

A carton of milk was impaled with a sword.

"Oops," he said, taking the carton-killing sword from the air and pulling the box off of it. The poor thing was irreparable, and the milk was now on the floor. Sighing, he walked to the garbage bin, ready to dispose of the box, when he stopped at what he saw.

Big, round, yellow eyes.

He unconciously gripped his sword when the eyes blinked and ran out the door with a pitter-patter. The garbage bin shook and tumbled to the floor. Luckily, it was empty, and made no mess.

"Don't just stand there!" Xion said, ready to chase the thing. "We have to catch it before it gets away!" She ran ahead, Ventus on her tail. An empty milk carton fell to the floor beside the garbage bin.

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><p>Ventus and Xion, after losing the yellow-eyed monster, agreed to split up as they searched. Xion had apparently found a pair of two-way radios in the kitchen, and brought it with her. They were small enough to fit in their pockets, and were hand-held. Ventus commented on their serendipitous convenience, while Xion was wondering what radios would be doing in a kitchen, somehow fine with the fact that a megaphone was in her room. An event concerning burnt barbecue, an attack with a wooden spoon, and the untimely drop of a pair of drumsticks seemed to be the explanation she as given.<p>

Giving one radio to Ventus, they continued to search in different directions.

And so, Xion was alone, walking the dark, empty halls of Sora's heart, with only a radio and an umbrella to accompany her. Among the things whirring in her mind were the thoughts of Ven's safety, her nervousness, and still, the radios. Couldn't she have found a flashlight instead? It would have been so much more useful.

Her brain still busy, she failed to notice the open door pass from the corner of her eye, as well as the other person inside the room. Among the other things she failed to notice where the soft and steady footsteps that began trailing behind her, moving in sync with hers to stay hidden. Whoever was following her had kept a close eye on her actions after she passed the door. Xion had no idea that it was there, but it was, and it was catching up to her.

As her thoughts settled down, she gradually became more aware of her surroundings. Silence was only betrayed by her footsteps, as it seemed to her. There was nothing else to do, so she listened.

_step_

_step_

_step_

_step_

_step**-step**_

Xion heard another person's footsteps behind her. She spun around to check.

Nothing.

She was just hearing things. She kept walking. As usual, the only things she could hear were her own footsteps. Steady. Slow. Soft.

A sharp tingle ran down her spine as something was caught in the corner of her eye. She checked again.

Nothing.

What culd she have seen? Her shadow? It was too dark, and she couldn't have made one – she herself was the only source of light she had. Starting to get frightened by the lack of another's presence, she got her radio out and contacted Ventus.

An automated beep sounded, telling Xion that it was still functional. "Hey, Ven, you okay over there?" she said into the little device.

"Xion, hey," came Ventus's calm voice from the radio. "I'm a bit creeped out, but that's it. You?"

"I'm okay, too, but I think I've found something. Every time I check it out, though, it just vanishes, as if there was nothing there t obegin with. Is there anything like that on your side?"

Ventus took a moment to look around before answering. Hmm, halls, doors, a painting of a castle. "Nope. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Should I come over there and help out?"

"If you tried, how do you suppose you'd find me?" she said as she continued scouting. Nearby, she found a big clay jar sitting on a littletable. Anything behind it? Nope.

"I don't know. Maybe we'll just bump into each other?" he jokingly replied, examining the painting.

"If we're that lucky, which I highly doubt." Xion looked inside the jar. It was empty, as expected.

Well, not really. There was something in there. A pair of glowing yellow eyes focused on her, nothing more.

The jar nearly fell out of her hands, but the thing inside it leaped out and frantically scurried deeper in, quickly vanishing into the dark. Xion wasn't about to just let it get away, though. She hastily put the jar back down and began running after the thing, uttering something into her radio. "I found 'em. Gotta go," she seemed to say.

"Huh?" It took a moment for Ventus to process what she had just said. He wondered whether or not to keep going, since Xion already seemed to find the pat-maker. He then noticed that his Wingblade was about to diminish. Luckily, he still had two Double Crunches left. As soon as his wings disappeared, he tossed another treat into his mouth, expecting to see his wings return.

But they didn't. Instead, he entered the Frozen Fortune command style. It wasn't a bright as Wingblade, but it still gave him enough light to see.

Back to his original line of thought, would he backtrack or move forward? Looking ahead, he found that nothing but an open window awaited him at the end of the narrow hallway, letting in a weak breeze. If he went back, then he'd find Xion eventually.

So, of course, he backtracked.

Xion would be hard to find, however. She was still chasing after the thing with the eyes, the entirety of her focus concentrated on capturing it and utterly annihilating it from its very own worthless, pitiful existence, to befall into eternal oblivion, from which it will stay until its ultimate demise.

In other words, she wanted to get it over with.

The task became three times more difficult when she came across a fork in the hallway. It was a two-way fork, yes, but still a fork. Digging into her pocket, she produced a coin. "Heads right, tails left," she said to herself, looking where the halls seperated. She flipped it. The coin did a somersault in the air before Xion tried to catch it in her palm, which she failed at. The coin bounced off her wrist, and fell to the floor with a nearly inaudible ping. It rolled around before finally hitting the wall, when it did a little twirl, and finally lied on the ground, face down.

Face down, therefore, tails. Left side it was.

After picking her coin back up, she promptly ran into the hallway that the coin had politely suggested to her. Inwardly, she thanked the coin, because those eyes were in front of her again, unchanging in expression, though it would be hard to show expressions when your eyes were just big, yellow circles.

Those eyes sunk into the ground in a manner that Xion thought was oddly familiar. Nevertheless, she pursued it into an empty room, where it scrambled right and left, looking futilely for an exit. It suddenly stopped when Xion approached it, like a scared mouse that ran into the exterminator.

"Gotcha, you little bugger," she said, taking a swing at the strange entity with her umbrella. The thing merely slipped under her feet and swiftly shut the door behind it, keeping both of them in the room. It rose from the floor, and Xion finally learned what it was.

"A Shadow, are we?" The Shadow responded to the comment with a lunge that Xion managed to roll away from. At the last second. Pointing the umbrella at the Shadow, she pulled the radio from her pocket.

Surprisingly, she didn't speak first. "Xion!" said Ventus's voice from the little device. He sounded worried. "Where are you?"

That wan't too hard. "In a room," she answered.

"Uh, exactly what room?" Ventus asked, noting that the Frozen Fortune was wearing off again.

Xion smirked to herself. "The one with our target in it." The Shadow and Xion began to circle each other, watching intently.

"Really?" Ventus actually sounded surprised. "Nice! Lemme find you. I'm at the spot where we split up. Where'd you go?"

Xion was about to answer when the Shadow pounced suddenly, forcing her to block. This Shadow was unusually strong. Perhaps it was the combined effect of not having a Keyblade and having only a single health point. whatever it was, it was bad. She better stay sharp.

She reverted her attention back to Ventus. "The first left turn you see, then go into the room." It _was_ just one turn, as she remebered. It was the first fork she came across, and the only one she needed to.

"Got it, I'm coming," Ventus said into his radio, but Xion didn't hear him after her own radio was nocked out of her hands by the Shadow she opposed. From his radio, she could hear a small shout, followed by the crack of plastic onti the floor, ending with a lengthy static. "Xion?" he called. No answer. "Xion!" The static ended, and the other line was silent. Ventus was worried, with his light source quickly dimming and his companion out of his reach.

As he was about to recharge, he fell to the ground.

* * *

><p>Ventus groaned. His eyes lazily fluttered open, but his vision was still blurry. As everything settled into his vision, he recognized his surroundings rather quickly. He was on his bed, under the blanket, with his night light left on atop his nightstand. The light blue curtains of the window at his right stayed still, hinting that the window was shut while the familiar moonlight seeped through. On of his closet doors was left open, displaying sets of identical clothing inside, which, he learned, cleaned themelves up after he used them and hung themselves back inside, leaving him with little responsibility. If only the dishes were that responsible. A small, wooden desk stood in a corner of the room, with his Keyblade armor sitting on it, still clean and free of dust despite the years it wasn't used, with a few handheld gaming systems accompanying it. For some reason, the megaphone he found in Xion's room that night also sat there.<p>

Wait, what happened to Xion?

Something happened to her before he got knocked out, but he didn't know what. He hurried to find her after hearing the static, but his command style ran out, and before he could recharge it one last time–

A muffled voice came from out the door, interrupting his train of thought. He glanced at it as it opened, letting Xion in. She seemed fine, despite what her radio seemed to imply. "Good, you're awake," she greeted while closing the door and switching the lights on, making Ventus squint. "Oops, a little bright?"

"Nah, it's okay," he said, adjusting to the light. "Xion, would you mind filling me in on what happened?"

Xion opened her mouth to speak when she was interrupted by the sound of Ventus's door clicking open. Two figures walked in, a short, vaguely humanoid one with those yellow eyes Ventus saw yesterday, and one with green eyes and silver hair.

"Xion, are you done? It'll start in five minutes," the green-eyed boy said. Ventus noted his skin-tight purple suit and the insignia on his chest.

"Five minutes? That's a lot of time, we'll make it," Xion said nonchalantly, waving a lazy hand at the boy.

"Just get there on time," said the boy. The other one, whose body was black, save for its eyes, scampered over to Xion, and tugged on her sleeve with its three-clawed hand. Ventus didn't know what to think of its crooked antennae. Its head was round, making it look rather harmless, unlike its black color. Though he thoroughly examined it, he had no idea what it was.

Xion reached down and patted its head. "I'll be right there, Ciel, just go and stay with Riku for a while." She stood and turned back to Ventus, her smile present on her face. "You probably want some introductions."

Ventus nodded wordlessly.

"Okay, this is Ciel, Sora's heartless," she said, patting the head of the little one, then gesturing to the one by the door, "and that's the former Riku Replica, who shall be referred to as 'Riku', as per his request and my preference." Riku nodded while Ciel waved in a friendly manner. Ventus just waved back awkwardly.

"Anyway, Xion, just let me tell you that Roxas already has Oathkeeper and Oblivion, and the real thing," Riku said the last two words a little bitterly, "is waiting for him on the tower. Be there before things get serious."

"Roger that, Captain Nags-a-ton," Xion said, dismissing him. He pretended to ignore the remark and walked out of the room silently, Ciel by his side. "Don't mind his attitude. I don't even know how he got here."

"Okay," Ventus replied. "You still haven't filled me in on what happened."

"Oh, you'll figure it out in another chapter of your life," she said, taking a quick glance at a clock. "Uh-oh, it's starting! I have to go." With that, she swiftly left the room and shut the door, leaving a drowsy Ventus behind.

Ventus, hoping that he had absolutely nothing to do with what just transpired in front of him, pulled the sheets over his head and took a nap.

No more golden eyes in his dreams this time.

* * *

><p>Originally, this chapter wasn't supposed to end that way, but it did. For good reasons. Hopefully. Oh, and a cookie goes to whoever can guess why I called Sora's heartless Ciel. As a lowly Shadow, he's the one that needs a hug. Then again, you could consider Repliku a 'shadow' of Riku, too. Eh, you pick. It's your hug.<p>

Special thanks to the reviewers. _continuity_ just gave me another idea, as well as pointing out something that I recently slapped myself on the forehead for because I forgot, while _Secret Bosses _pointed out The Unknown for BbS for me (I am SO gonna eat him one day, MARK MY WORDS) and Flightfoot, who's given a review to both chapters so far. All three are anonymous.

I suppose that at least half of whoever reads this will immediately gather that Roxas is featured in the next chapter. *Roxas fangirls start screaming and running towards me* Not again. *get trampled*

Criticism, anyone? I need to improve somehow. Seriously, I suck at this.


	4. It's Canon Hooking Time!

I'm am so ashamed. Seriously. I know I updated really late, and I sincerely apologize. School has been getting to me (but it's vacation now), and on the _very day_that I finished this chapter, I lose almost all web connection. It's back up now, luckily.

Also, this chapter might be a little... bland for some people. I sincerely apologize for not meeting expectations. I try my hardest to update as soon as possible.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter Three: Deep Dive, Another Way (The Ridiculous Way)<strong>_

* * *

><p>On the average, children inherit the skills and talents of their parents, either naturally (however unnatural that may seem), by observing them as they work, or by being taught directly. The parents often teach their children various tricks and techniques that go with their particular occupation, like how a prince learns to be a king or how a lion cub is taught to hunt for when they grow older. These skills are best introduced at an early age, when it leaves a mark in the child's newly formed mind, while giving the skills more time to develop as they grew older.<p>

At least, that was what the scientist Even of Radiant Garden had gathered from his studies, by himself. He had better understanding of such things when he was still a somebody, for he had lost his heart – an important part of a person's learning system, he realized later – when he became Vexen. Still, without the heart, he was able to create astounding breakthroughs in the science department of the Organization, being the first person to ever create a clone out of memory samplings. (Though, unbeknownst to him, it was a replica that met a tragic end predetermined by fate, just like the other 'successful' one he had created.)

Which, in some way or another, brings us back to the topic we began with.

Why, then, had the Riku Replica, the unflawed one of the two, been unable to properly use computers in the way his creator did?

"He's almost at the skyscraper, Riku, hurry up!" Xion worriedly exclaimed, watching Roxas plow his way through an army or Neoshadows with his Omega Weapon. It seemed that he had not yet gained access to her keyblade inside him.

"Don't rush me, Xion! You think this is easy?" The Riku Replica irritably retorted, trying to figure out how to override Roxas. With another combination of hopeful button clicks, he tapped on the ENTER key again, and looked at the screen in anticipation.

"**FAILURE TO ACCESS ROXAS'S CURRENT DRIVESTREAM,"**mocked the monitor, numb to the impact of Riku's fists on its wide keyboard.

"Just let me do it!" Xion said, forcefully taking the other replica's place in front of the machine. She had been watching him press random keys on the keyboard with that riled look on his face for some amount of time, while she had stood there, trying to give him the right directions, which he stubbornly ignored. Needless to say, they weren't getting anywhere during the time it took Roxas to take down a couple hundred Neoshadows. Sure, he had just gotten an enourmous strength spurt thanks to her death, and that might've lessened the time they had to work, but still, they got nowhere.

On the bright side, Xion and company were earning how to take over people's minds. That accounted for _something,_right?

"There's your problem." Xion clicked on a small stick figure with spiky hair on the screen. "Look, you haven't started rewriting the C-border!" she said, pointing at the window on the monitor that appeared after clicking on the stick figure. The window seemed to have a sort of grid on it, each tile filled with some kind of character – Riku wasn't sure if they were scientific or mathematical or just artistic, but it was the first time he'd ever seen anything like them.

_C-border? _Riku thought, focused on the monitor with a clueless expression on his face. _What the heck is a C-border?_

"A C-border," Xion began, as if Riku had been thinking aloud, "is what separates the actions of the owner from external influence. Darkness is notorious for constantly messing with people's C-borders, linking the dark impulses coming from it to the person's own actions. Light doesn't do that, which is why so many people prefer using that power. By rewriting the C-border, we can have some influence to the actions of the person that owns the heart we're in."

"Wait a minute," Riku cut, noticing something wrong with the explanation that Xion just gave. "I have no idea how in Kingdom Hearts you know these things and I have a ton more questions to ask about that, but if you say it can control the actions of the guy's heart, then how can we control Roxas? He's a Nobody, and Nobodies don't have hearts."

"That's what I want to know, too, actually," she said, nearly finished rewriting what she had been rambling about seconds earlier. With a click of a key, she had finished the rewrite. She looked up the monitor with the anticipating expression that Riku had earlier, but more positive.

"**REWRITE SUCCESFUL**," said the monitor, with the Finest Fantasy victory fanfare playing in the background. Xion, Riku and Ciel calmly noted the spelling error.

"Could you fix that, Xion?" Ciel asked kindly after a three second pause.

"I have the sudden, irrepressible urge to do so, actually." Xion began to fix the error when Riku held her shoulder in restraint.

"Fix it later," he said sternly. "Roxas could get there soon, and by then, it'll be too late."

Xion grumbled. "Fine." She clicked away at the computer. A small part of her mind lingered around what Riku had said. "Why would it be too late? If Roxas doesn't get my keyblade, wouldn't that make it easier for the other Riku to beat him?"

Riku seemed to hesitate before answering. "There's something I want the other Riku to do," he answered ambiguously.

"Hmm," Xion hummed in thought. "It sounds like you would just talk in circles if I asked, so I'll just say yes and go along with this plan of yours."

"Okay, I want him to get a keyblade so I can have one, too."

"Oh."

Ciel's eyes would have widened at this if it were possible, given the width of his glowing eyes. "But what about Riku?" he asked in concern. "What if Roxas actually beats him?" Xion found it amusing how he sounded like the Sora she could recall.

"I was worried about that, too, Ciel." The tapping slowed a subtle rate. "But Riku has something up his sleeve. And he's probably way stronger. I think he'll find a way. I'll help him." Xion finished with four rhythmic taps and dropped her fingertip on the ENTER key once more. The screen displayed another message:

"**DRIVESTREAM ACCESS GRANTED."**

"Wait, we're in?" Riku asked in disbelief. Perhaps Xion had inherited Vexen's talent with technology. Or perhaps the luck that came with Sora's goofiness. Yet Xion was not very goofy at all.

"Yep." Xion gave a thumbs-up in his direction. "So now we should have some control over Roxas." Riku nodded before looking over Xion's shoulder. He pointed behind her, at a door that seemed to have come out of nowhere. By all appearances, it was just another wooden door, but seeing as it came from a computer room inside someone's heart, it wasn't just a wooden door. It was a _special_ wooden door.

Riku opened the door and peered inside, with Xion and Ciel quick to follow his actions. A chair and a helmet was all that was in the room. Perhaps it was a _special_ chair and helmet.

"What are those?" Riku asked, taking the helmet in his hands and inspecting it. Besides the opaque visor, there was nothing very special about it.

"I bet we'll know once we put it on," Xion suggested, taking the helmet out of Riku's hands and slipping it onto her head. Though she put it on with open eyes, it was completely black. She waited a few second for something to happen, and it did. "Whoa!" An army of Neoshadows suddenly came into view all, crawling about, trying to keep her at bay. It didn't feel like it was her they were focused on, however. Analyzing the situation – another talent she got from Vexen – she made an interesting breakthrough.

She had taken over Roxas's mind. Or, at least, entered it. She still didn't know what she was doing there or what to do next, but she was in Roxas's head controlling a portion of Roxas's powers.

"Riku to Xion, Riku to Xion, do you read me?" came Riku's disembodied voice in a joking tone, "over."

"Xion to Riku, loud and clear, over," she appropriately responded. It didn't seem Roxas could hear any of this.

"Riku here," he replied. "What do you think it does, now?"

"I'm in his head, seeing what he's seeing. What do you _think_ it does?" Xion watched as Roxas decimated another group of seven creepy crawlies in three seconds flat. _I could've done that,_ she assured herself.

"Can you give him your keyblade?" Riku asked. From his point of view, Xion was sitting on a chair with a helmet on. Soon after, a little floating monitor was above her head, displaying what Riku gathered to be what Xion and Roxas were seeing.

"Let's see..."

* * *

><p>Roxas walked in the Dark City, fully aware of his situation, and goal. They used to go to the tower to eat ice cream together as friends, he and Axel and Xion, every day after a mission. But the Organization kept secrets from him, so he escaped to Twilight Town. He realized when he climbed up the tower, that he hadn't thought it through.<p>

_Where did I think I could go? What a joke._

As he sat there, his mind empty of ideas, Xion joined him on the tower and offered him ice cream. But he thought it was strange how she had her hood on at the time. He took the ice cream anyway, just glad to see his friend again. And then...

_Roxas... I'm out of time._

He couldn't understand what she told him. Memories? What did that have to do with ice cream? What did she mean when she said she was almost ready? Ready for what?

_This puppet will have to play her part._

But she wasn't a puppet. She was his friend, the one who watched over him when he fell asleep. The one who joined him and Axel on the tower. And who was that he saw under her hood? That wasn't Xion. He knew him from somewhere. The boy in red... who was he?

_This is him... It's Sora._

Sora. And he was related to all this somehow. Memories...the boy in red... her face... He could see their connection. But what he didn't see was _how._

And after their battle...

_Who are you... again?_

She was in front of him; there was something familiar about her. But he couldn't put his finger on it. She then said something about him being better off now. He knew they were both exhausted, but at least he could still stand; she was on her knees. Before falling, she muttered something about him being better off now. When he looked at her in his arms, she saw how weak she was getting. Did he do this to her?

_It was my choice... to go away now._

Little pieces of light seemed to float up into the air. Little pieces of _her_were going to the sky_._

_I belong with Sora._

Him again.

_And now... I am going back... to be with him._

Me must've been the cause of all this. He was the reason she was weakening. He was the reason she had to leave.

_All those hearts I've captured... Kingdom Hearts... Set them free._

_Kingdom Hearts... Free them?_

Was that the only way to bring her back?She continued to speak as ice began to encase her body. She said it was too late for her to undo her mistakes. Xemnas couldn't have Kingdom Hearts.

And then she began to say goodbye. He and Axel were both her best friends. That was the truth, as she told him.

And then he remembered everything.

_No! Xion..._

He didn't want her to leave. She was the only one left he could trust. Axel had hurt her. Saïx thought of them as tools. Xemnas made her think she was a puppet. The Organization was against them both. The only thing that ever could do together as friends... not workmates, or pawns, or even Nobodies...

The only thing they could ever do as friends.

_Who else will I have ice cream with?_

It was too late. The only one he could have ice cream with, the only companion he had left in the world...

_Xion..._

She was gone, and he was going to get her back.

Roxas took a few more steps into the Fragment Crossing. He attained a newfound power, and summoned a keyblade in his right and another one on his left.

_Yes! He's got it, Riku!_

_I heard you, Xion._

Neoshadows emerged from the ground again, but he didn't give them a second thought. They won't stop him from freeing Kingdom Hearts. He raised the keys above his head, each crossing the other, and simultaneously, they transformed. In his right hand, darkness. In his left, light.

_That one's yours, right?_

_Which one are you talking about?_

_The black one. Oblivion?_

Roxas gave one stroke to each of the Neoshadows so they'd disappear. They were weak. To everyone he crossed, he need only swing once to defeat them.

But Roxas had another enemy. Trying to take control of him. His keyblades. Against them, he was fighting a losing battle.

_He's fighting it, Riku! He won't let me take over!_

_Fight back! Didn't you give him that power?_

_I guess I did..._

He beat that last Neoshadow before he got to Memory's Skyscraper.

That was when he lost the battle within himself, and the two keyblades he had seemed to betray him and vanish.

_Okay, Riku, we are in control!_

_Good. But get ready. A big group of Neoshadows is coming, and it's too many to joke about. Think you can still dual wield?_

Roxas continued to Memory's Skyscraper in a slow, steady pace, his shoes lightly splashing the thin layer of rainwater he walked over. He noticed a pair of Neoshadows emerge from the ground behind him, but he didn't stop, even as more began to surround him. As he approached the center of the area, he briefly eyed a few, and decided that their numbers were growing dangerously high.

_Time to bring 'em out._

_Roger that, Captain Riku._

With his left hand, he pulled out Oathkeeper, then from his left, Oblivion. He spun them above his head, making sparks from the clash when they met, and took solid a fighting stance.

_Looking good._

_Thanks. You know, I've always wanted to do that._

Roxas leaped into the mess, easily slicing away a team of Neoshadows, and then swung the other way to expunge a pair that was headed in hs direction. He ran one way, swiping carelessly, knowing that it wouldn't miss, given the sheer number of Heartless that encirlced him. He slashed wildly but skillfully, then leaping up to avoid an attack he sensed behind him. In the air, he countered by throwing Oblivion at the Neoshadow in front of him, defeating more than just the one he targeted when it hit. Before landing, he swiped at a Neoshadow in his way using Oathkeeper, while Oblivion returned to him. He charged again and slashed, kicking away a pair of Heartless he didn't feel like dealing with.

_Where's the finesse, Xion? You even kicked a few._Kicked.

_Riku, I have two Keyblades and a gigantic horde of Heartless out for my neck. As long as I don't cut myself up, whetever I do is okay._

_C'mon, I'm sure you can do better than that. Make it flashier. I know I can._

_I that a challenge?_

_It depends. What do you think?_

_I think it is, and I accept._

Roxas jumped to destroy a Neoshadow the pounced on him_,_destroyed another by landing on it. Sparing no time, he sprung high up into the air, destroying every one that followed him as he rose. He caught a glimpse of four that somehow jumped above him, and slung Oathkeeper at them instantly, slicing through all four of them. Oathkeeper returned to Roxas's hand seconds before he's back on the ground. He then avoids another attack, backflipping to the porch of Memory's Skyscraper.

_Behold, Riku, the Xion Midair Multi-target Lefty Strike Raid Special. Happy?_

_I am, but you sure won't be if you stay there. Head up. Riku's waiting._

_He is?_

Roxas looked out on the expanse of Heartless before was sure they were too many now; it seemed like there were more than what he had begun with. He looked at the top of the Skyscraper, and sure enough, Riku was there, smirking, as if he was glad to see him. Maybe it wasn't really Roxas he saw.

Roxas smirked himself.

_Nice to see you here, Riku._

_I don't like where this conversation's going. Don't talk to him, Xion. You'll confuse me. Really._

_You're just upset about your height compared to his._

_...Just get going._

_Haha. Sure._

Roxas jumps to a post, then to a projection on the wall and onto the side of the skyscraper, sprinting towards Riku with Keyblades at his sides. As he ran up, Riku jumped, arms outstretched.

_Argh... Huh? What...What is this?_

_Uh-oh. Repliku._

_Oh, now that Riku the Real is here, you're calling me 'Repliku'. Very nice._

_Not now. Roxas is waking up. I'm losing control._

_Is... Is that me? But..._

_What? Not good. Quick, throw Oblivion at that Riku over there._

_'That Riku'?_

_Just do it._

Roxas pulled Oblivion back and tossed it to Riku, who caught it with ease. At the second he gripped it, however, he felt the keyblade respond to him, as if trying to tell him something. He moved his head to look at it, but he couldn't see anything. It wasn't just his blindfold, either. Images of a familiar black-haired girl cut through his senses, flashing in quick succesion.

_Riku, it's me, Xion. Can you still remember?_

_Hey! Who are you?_

_Xion! Roxas is back! You're almost–_

_Get out! Now!_

The forces that Roxas lost himself to had vanished all of a sudden, and he found himself running up a building with a silver-haired young man falling. As they neared the biggest screen that hung on the side of the tall structure, they exchanged stares. The silver-haired boy had his Oblivion. Why?

He reached the top of the tower and watched as the boy calmly landed onto the ground, and Neoshadows surrounded him, moving about like hungry predators.

Down below, however, a surge of incomplete memories pierced through Riku's mind. But he recovered fast enough to slash a pouncing Neoshadow.

_Riku!_

_What the–_

_Xion! What are you doing?_

Roxas jumped down the tower to join Riku in the fight at the base of the skyscraper. They effortlessly defeated every one of the Neoshadows together, each of them taking less than a few seconds. Before the Heartless could even disperse into dark clouds, Roxas backflipped to jump behind Riku.

_Riku, I need you to stop Roxas. Please._

_Me? What am I supposed to do? I'm in Sora's heart!_

_Not you, the other Riku._

_Oh. Sorry._

The images Riku saw earlier played back, but they seemed to get blurred and grainier, until they were completely gone.

Roxas returned to his senses, and immediately turned on Riku, who mirrored his action. They skipped away from each other, ready for battle.

* * *

><p>"Whooo..." Xion exhaled, smiling to herself. "What a rush! I feel more awesome than that time I was a twenty-something foot tall Sora robot thing floating in front of the clock tower in Twilight Town!" She chuckled, intertwining her fingers behind her head as she leaned back on the seat.<p>

"That time when you _what?"_ the Riku replica asked. Did Xion just say she turned into a giant floating thing once?

"It's a long story," she answered, propping herself up.

"I have time," Repliku answered smoothly, crossing his arms.

"Well I don't." Xion walked out the door. "I have a Ventus to check on. Wanna come? We have a movie, and as a witness to what just transpired here, you have to watch with us."

"Movie?" What movie could she be talking about? There weren't any DVDs, last time he checked.

Ciel was content with joining Xion, it seemed, seeing as he scampered over to where she was. "C'mon, Riku," he urged. "You don't have anything to do here, do you? The screen's off, so you can't watch the fight."

Riku sighed through his nose. "I guess..."

"Let's go then!"

When Repliku looked, they were both gone. "Hey! Don't just leave me here! I don't think machines like me as much as they like Xion!" He didn't even bother to shut the door behind him when he began to chase the two. Instead, the door vanished in a cloud of sparkles.

After two elevator trips' worth of time (he was locked out of the first one and had to wait for it to come back), the Riku replica finally met up with Ventus, Xion and Ciel in the living room, where they anticipated the ring of a nearby microwave and an epic battle between two of the most powerful forces in the universe in full HD. He sat on a couch, staring blankly at the black screen, while Xion, who sat on the opposite side, read a book titled _The Infamous Mary Sue: Why You Aren't One. _Ciel was snug beside the reader.

Ventus, whose bed-head was hardly noticeable thanks to the constant shape of his hair, fiddled with a red paperclip as he waited for the television to work properly. "So, how long until the popcorn comes in?" he asked, bending the clip into a diamond. He picked up another paperclip below the armchair he was sitting on.

"Lemme check," Ciel offered politely. For a Heartless, he was strangely dignified and mild-mannered. He returned from the kitchen after a silent ten seconds. "Three minutes."

"And how long until the show?" Repliku asked, resting his head on his fist in a very bored manner.

"Who knows?" Ciel answered.

"Xion, maybe?" Repliku said, his eyes lazily focused on the person in question. So focused was she in her book that she seemed to pull out of nowhere, that she didn't even look up to the speaker when he said her name.

Ventus stalled clip-bending. "Well, Xion?"

She shrugged, thinking the gesture would suffice.

"Yeah, thought so," Ventus said, as if he understood Xion's body language as an actual sentence.

"What?" Repliku didn't quite catch Ventus and Xion's 'conversation'.

"She doesn't know either. But I do. The time in this heart, whoever owns it, is _way_off from the time in the real world, as in real slow, real fast, or anything in between. It doesn't happen a lot, though."

"When _does_happen?" Xion was interested enough to stop reading for a while.

"I think it's when something..." he looked for the right words, "...emotionally significant happens to the owner of the heart." Everyone turned their heads in the direction of the kitchen when they heard the microwave bell ring. Ciel immediately ran to the kitchen, which everyone else assumed was for popcorn preparation. Once Ciel was out of sight, the attention was reverted to Ventus.

"Anyway," Xion resumed the topic, "if it's emotions we're talking about here, then we can't be talking about Roxas. He's a Nobody."

"That's not very nice." Ventus leaned back on the couch and crossed his arms, giving Xion a bad look.

"With a capital _N,_" she returned. "As in, a guy without a heart or emotions?"

"Oh." The look disappeared from Ventus's face. "You have to tell me about these things sometimes."

"C'mon, Ven, didn't you play the game? You should know these things by now."

"I skip the cutscenes," he answered with a shrug.

Xion was about to object to his cutscene treatment when Repliku coughed. "We'll talk about this later."

"So you said that Roxas is a Nobody," Repliku picked up. "That means he can't feel emotions, and it makes Ven's theory incorrect. I get that, but it looks to me like you guys are missing something. Xion, no one here said we were referring to Roxas here, but I can see why you brought him up. We just finished controlling him from this heart, after all. The real question should be – how did we control Roxas in the first place?"

Ciel walked in with a tray with four bowls of fresh popcorn, which made him look like he was about to fall over. "I have a reasonable theory," he claimed, distributing the bowls shakily.

"Let's hear it." Repliku tossed a piece into his mouth.

"Ven's heart fused with Sora's right?" Ventus nodded at this. "I think that when Sora released both his and Kairi's hearts in Hollow Bastion, Ven's heart split from Sora's, and went into Roxas, since it couldn't become a Heartless without any darkness. That means Roxas _can_ feel emotions, and _does_have a heart, but neither are really his." Ventus raised his hand in a student-like manner. "Yep?"

"Does that mean you guys are eating popcorn and sitting on a couch in _my_ heart?" he asked.

"If I'm right, then yes." Ciel joined Repliku on the couch, but snuggled closer to Xion, who rubbed his head.

"This is complicated." Repliku's forehead found its way into his palm.

No one said anything afterwards. The Riku replica was still trying to make sense of all this 'heart' logic, Ventus was still in shock after finding that he had been in his own heart for a while, Ciel was busy enjoying a head rub, while Xion was too engrossed in her book to do anything.

Nearly thirty seconds later, Repliku turned the television on. All attention was on the gigantic screen for a moment or two, when it flashed into life.

"Looks like it's starting, guys," Xion noted, shutting her book.

"Ssh!" Ventus shushed. "It's starting!"

* * *

><p>Roxas and Riku stood across each other holding Oathkeeper and Oblivion, respectively. They weren't exactly on terms with each other, but neither made a move to start a fight just yet.<p>

"Who are you?" Roxas asked warily.

"What does it matter?" Riku said, dodging the question. "I'm here for you."

"Why are you trying to stop me?" Roxas asked. Even strangers seemed to be against him.

But Roxas was no stranger to Riku. "Because I want back the rest of Sora's memories."

Roxas was enraged at the sound of his name. He seemed to be ruining everything; first her, and now this guy. "Sora, Sora, _Sora!_Enough about Sora!"

"Do you have some kind of plan?" Riku questioned, unfazed at Roxas's outburst.

"I'm going to set Kingdom Heart free! Then everything can go back to the way it was!" His head lowered, as well as his voice. "Me, and Axel, and... and her can go on having ice cream together!"

Riku looked at Oblivion, remembering the girl he saw as he fell. "Her? You mean Xion?" Her name was barely in his reach. "It's a struggle to remember the name now, isn't it?" He sharply swung Oblivion back to his side. "Either way, I can't let you go doing anything crazy."

"I have to find this Sora person, and freeing Kingdom Hearts is the only way!" He looked back down. "I want Xion back." And then at Riku. "I want my life back!"

"If you try and make contact with Kingdom Hearts, the last thing you'll get is your life back. The Organization will destroy you."

Roxas has had it. He was going to do everything in his power to reach Kingdom Hearts. All to get the three of them back together. The Organization, Heartless, the boy he was facing, even Sora. He wasn't going to let any of them stop him.

"Shut up!"

He charged at the blindfolded boy and swung at full strength, but a barrier of crystal hexagons forced his attack to bounce right off. The barrier didn't work both ways, he realized, when Riku stabbed at him with a flurry of deft swordplay. At the moment Riku ceased attack, Roxas rolled out of the way and jumped behind him, delivering his own combination of powerful slashes. Before he delivered the finishing blow, Riku jumped away and shot a Dark Firaga from his hand. The ball of fire slowly homed towards Roxas, who blocked it easily. But during the time he blocked, Riku landed another string of attacks on Roxas's back.

Roxas ran around Riku, and just when he was about to rush at him, Riku teleported in a burst of energy and brought Oblivion down once close enough to Roxas. Roxas was swift enough to roll out of the way, and tried gliding away from Riku, causing all the slams that followed to miss entirely. Smirking to himself, Roxas fired an Aero spell at Riku. As the blindfolded boy stepped away from the spell, Roxas closed in and delivered a quick, powerful spinning slash.

Wen he got the chance, Roxas rolled a fair distance away from Riku and casted a Thundaga, striking Riku from above. He followed up with a well-aimed Firaga, the two spells dealing quite an amount of damage. Riku charged at Roxas, blade extended and too fast to dodge. Roxas was knocked down, but got back up when he heard Riku's cry of "Try to keep up!" He spun to look at Riku, and was surprised to see that Oblivion had changed into a longer, glowing sword.

Roxas casted Cura for precaution; a decision he was thankful he made when Riku unleashed another chain of attacks that was much more powerful than his previous ones. Riku finished with a charging slash, leaving him right behind Roxas. Before the Cura he used healed himself too far, Roxas welled the power of light inside him and sent it flowing to Oathkeeper, transforming it into a brilliant weapon that, though shorter, was just as lethal as Riku's sword. With his light, Roxas burst into a frenzy of slashes, each of them targeting Riku, who mimicked his opponent. The shining blades clashed against each other in a test of wills, until one gave out. "It's _over!" _Riku taunted as he shot another Dark Firaga at Roxas, who blocked it once again.

Riku stepped back and eyed Roxas cautiously. "You're fast!" he admitted as he raised his sword and began charging at Roxas in all directions. "Sloppy!" he yelled as he brought his sword down at Roxas. They were both down to their last bits of strength, when Roxas let loose four pillars of light. Riku collapsed.

Both Oathkeeper and Oblivion returned to their original forms. Oblivion had fallen to Riku's side when he had collapsed, while Oathkeeper proved itself more loyal, as light was more obedient than darkness, and stayed in Roxas's hand.

On the ground, Riku looked at the hooded boy. "Why?" he demanded, "Why do you have the keyblade!"

Roxas brought the keyblade Riku was referring to up. It was his own, wasn't it? Why would he care? He brought it down to look at Riku and make his point clear when he said it. "Shut up!"

Before Roxas's attack could connect, Riku took Oblivion and swiped at Roxas, sending him in the air with enough power to knock his hood off.

Riku walked up to where Roxas lied on the cold ground. He raised Oblivion–

–and thrust it into the ground, right beside Roxas's shoulder.

For a few moments, Roxas seemed tranquil enough for Riku to take him to DiZ. But he wasn't. Roxas helped himself up and pulled Oblivion out from the ground. Riku reacted quickly and distanced himself from Roxas to fire a Dark Firaga. Roxas sliced through it, and attacked Riku, who jumped away.

Roxas was getting impatient. "Why don't you quit?" he yelled in frustration.

Riku had a good idea on how to respond to such a question. He's heard things like that several times before, after all. "C'mon, Sora," he began with a smirk, "I thought you were stronger than that."

Something inside Roxas reacted to this. "Get real. Look which one of us is winning." He put his hand near his mouth. That wasn't him.

"So it's true," Riku confirmed. "You really are his nobody. Guess DiZ was right after all."

"What are you talking about?" Roxas exclaimed, forming a fist in rage. "I am _me."_He summoned Oathkeeper. "Nobody else!" Sprinting towards Riku, he began another strike. Riku, unarmed, could only hold his arms up defensively, and recoiled in pain when Oblivion hit him. And then–

_Riku, please! _rang a girl's voice in his mind. _You have to stop him!_

And stop him he would. At all costs. For Sora and the girl.

"How many times do I have to beat you?" Roxas yelled.

"All right," Riku said. "You've left me with no other choice."

"What?" Roxas asked, his anger faltering.

"I have to release the power in my heart," Riku said, pulling his blindfold off, "the dark power that I've been holding back. Even... if it changes me forever." He released a sharp roar as he was lifted off the ground. Four columns of dark energy erupted around him as he was engulfed in shadow, transforming. Riku became a man whose skin was dark and whose eyes were a menacing shade of orange. A monster of some sort floated behind him, but Roxas couldn't get a good look, because they vanished one instant, and reappeared in front of him in another. The monster gripped Roxas tightly, forcing him to drop his keyblades after a fruitless struggle to get out.

He could hear only a few more words before he lost consciousness. "I have accepted it."

* * *

><p>Ventus took a sip of soda. "Wow," he said. "That was an awesome five minutes."<p>

"How did you do that 'Riku, please' thing, Xion?" Ciel asked.

"Huh? Oh!" Xion hurriedly put away her microphone. "Uh... the Power of Darkness?"

"Yeah, right." Repliku took the poorly-hidden device. "What does this thing even do? Besides making stuff louder, of course." He began to inspect it, but Xion swiped it out of his hand before he could.

"It's dangerous to mess with the power of darkness," she said. "I have one more thing to do." She threw it to Ventus.

Ventus shuffled his hands around clumsily, making the mic bounce around in his hands before catching it. "What do I do with this?"

"Whatever you want to," Xion answered. "Just don't thr–"

Ventus opened a neaby window and threw the microphone at a green pig.

Xion stared in disbelief. "You just threw the Power of Darkness out the window... And hit a pig."

Repiku looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "That was a mic."

"Which I, a few seconds ago, spontaneously dubbed 'The Power of Darkness'," Xion answered with a raised forefinger. "Anyway, I have a substitute." She pulled out another microphone and looked at the others with a finger across her lip to ask for some silence. She lightly tapped on the mic to test it, and put it to her mouth when she heard the tap reverberate through the room.

"Roxas, don't be sad. I came from you and Sora. I am you... the same way that I am Sora."

Ventus gave the others a weird look. It seemed like she could talk to Roxas through microphones. A strange thing.

"You'll forget me, but the memories themselves will never go away. Memories of you and me will always be together... forever, inside him." Xion lowered the mic and switched it off. "_I'm_tossing this one out the window, thank you very much." She did as she said she would.

"So," Repliku said suddenly, "Anyone in the mood to play Days?"

"But Ventus and I aren't done with our command board game yet!" Xion said.

"Board games can wait longer than video games," Repliku explained.

"...I can't argue with that logic," Xion said. "Mainly because there's no logic for me to argue with in the first place." She paused. "I'm in the mood."

Ventus poured the last of his soda into his mouth. "Who wouldn't be after a scene like that?" He looked at Xion. "Xion!" he challenged, pointing a finger at her, "I dare you to play as Xion in the mission 'Xion' and defeat Xion!"

"I accept your challenge, Sir Ventus of Departure," Xion said, bowing and smirking. "While you, Sir Riku of Oblivion, will play as Riku and battle Anti-Riku. But, there's no mission called 'Riku' in the game, so my challenge doesn't sound as good as Ven's."

"I, Sir Riku of Oblivion, shall challenge Ventus to a duel 'gainst himself in the Keyblade graveyard," Repliku said, switching to a sort of medieval accent.

"But won't I have to play as Aqua?" Ventus asked.

"I guess," Repliku answered with a small shrug.

Three walked over to Ventus's room, discussing various game-related topics and eventually, swiss cheese. Ciel was left alone in the living room with four empty cans of soda, four empty bowls of popcorn, and several advanced video game consoles that the other three seemed to have missed.

Too bad he didn't have enough digits.

* * *

><p>Lame, right?<p>

Okay, time for credits! I'd would like to thank **randomjoe, Sugar Rush 626, S. Ushiromiya **this time, because I didn't thank them last chapter. (Oh. Something else to apologize for. Sorry, sorry.) Special thanks due to a different kind of help goes to **Free water- drop wind** for helping me with my other kinds of work. (That which shall not be named.)

On a side note, should the Riku Replica be addressed as Repliku or Riku in this fic?

Okay, time to deal with writer's block. (gets a spear and fights the writer's block.) TAKE THAT, EVILDOER!


	5. Ven had No Idea

Yes! Finally! I'm on time! And I finished my chicken burrito!

Okay, enough of that. Onto the chapter of this story that people actually read!

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter<strong>_** -2****:** **_Replicas Discuss _****_Piñata Skills_**

* * *

><p>"The first left turn you see, then go into the room." Xion could only say this before the Shadow pounced and knocked the radio out of her hands, inciting an "Ow!" from her and a crack from the radio's impact on the floor. "Hey!" she yelled. "I was using that!" The Shadow's antennae lowered as it looked at the device regretfully, when quite soon afterwards, it's hand were on it's head, soothing the area that Xion had hit him on recently.<p>

It scampered to a far corner of the room. "Sorry, sorry!" it said fearfully.

"Huh?" Xion made a befuddled expression at the Heartless. Since when were they able to talk?

"I didn't mean to knock it out!" it explained. "I was just scared ofyour umbrella and I wanted to get out of here alive so I tried pouncing to throw you off for a minute and escape while you weren't focused on me and–" It paused to catch its breath. "–and maybe I'd be able to find Riku after–"

"Wait, what?" Xion interrupted. "You know Riku?"

"Y-Y-Y-Yeah..." the Shadow replied shakily. "H-He's more of a Riku Replica, so it's probably not the Riku you know." A short silence. "Why? Do you like Riku or something?" Xion's answer came as a shoulder grip.

"Did you say 'Riku Replica'?" she asked, staring sharply enough to make the Shadow shrink.

"Uh-huh..." She didn't seem to hear the question. The Shadow thought it was best to leave the topic for now.

Xion released her grip and put a hand to her chin thoughtfully. "So Riku has a replica, too, huh?" She began to pace around the room in thought. And a question suddenly popped into her head, impacting her like a poorly-aimed golf swing. "Why is he here?"

"I don't know," the Shadow answered. "Why are _you _here?"

"Ven couldn't sleep," she said.

"Okay..." That wasn't the answer he was looking for, but he was too scared to ask again.

"Anyway, could you take me to him?"

"Oh..." The little Shadow calmed a bit, thanks to the smile Xion gave. The umbrella didn't seem all that threatening anymore. "I, uh, think he'll find me before–"

"Sora!" came a voice from the door. "I found him." To Xion, he looked like a much younger Riku in a purple suit of sorts. On his shoulder, Ventus was slung, unconscious. "He wasn't too hard to beat. All I had to do was–"

_Thwack!_

"Ow!"

"Who are you?" Xion demanded, umbrella at the ready.

"The Riku replica. Ow..." He rubbed his face where the umbrella hit him.

"What did you do with Ven?" On the sidelines, the Shadow's eyes moved back and forth frantically.

"Sleep spell," the Riku replica answered succinctly.

"What's up with that man-skirt?"

"What?" He checked for this alleged 'man-skirt', and frowned when he saw what she was talking about. "Hey, I didn't make this suit, the darkness did," he objected.

Xion just stared at him coldly. "...Let me see Ven." The Riku replica set Ventus down on the floor. He was sleeping soundly, undisturbed, it seemed. Apparently, the other replica was telling the truth.

"See?" he said. "Just a spell, most definitely nothing that deserves a crook to the head."

"Okay, I'll believe you." She picked Ventus up. "I'm going to take him to his room. You two should come." Xion began to walk out the room, but stopped in her tracks.

"Wait," the Riku replica interrupted. "I know a better way." He brought his hand up and created a dark corridor, something that all three of them were familiar with.

"Hunh. What do you know. We can use portals here." She watched as the other two walked through calmly.

Before it could dissolve, however, the Shadow poked its head out. "Won't you follow us?"

"Are you sure that thing leads to Ven's room?" she asked warily.

"If it doesn't, we might do something to you while you can't see us, either way, you oughta follow us," the Shadow reasoned.

Hesitantly, Xion nodded and followed them into the corridor, struggling to fit Ventus inside. Why weren't these things expandable?

* * *

><p>The Riku replica set Ventus down on his bed, and Xion insisted he get tucked in, so the other replica just followed and carlessly threw a blanket over Ventus. Xion got three chairs and motioned for them to sit, offering them some soda along the way. The Shadow, however, had some trouble getting up, so she helped it after watching for two minutes.<p>

"First of all," she began, "Who are you two?"

"I'm the Riku replica, like Sora over there said," the Riku replica introduced, pointing at the Shadow beside him.

"Sora?" Xion repeated.

"Uh, I'm Sora's Heartless, actually," the Shadow clarified. "Riku just calls me Sora because it's shorter."

"What about you?" the Riku replica asked, taking a sip of soda. "What's your name? You can't be Kairi, even if you do look a lot like her."

"I look like Kairi?" Xion knew that she did, but she didn't know that they saw her that way, too.

"The only difference woud be the black hair," the Riku replica clarified. "Besides that, you're pretty much the person Kairi sees when she looks at a mirror. But Kairi's at Destiny Islands, so who are you?"

"I'm the Sora replica–" Xion used her umbrella to shield herself from the soda that spewed from Riku replica's mouth.

"What?" he said after he wiped his face clean. "Sora is a _girl?"_

Behind the umbrella, Xion laughed. "Hahaha! S-Sorry about your soda, Riku."

The Riku replica crossed his arms. "I knew it. You were messing with me. You're not _really _the Sora replica, are you? You're too much of a Kairi to be Sora."

"I am!" she said. "Vexen even gave me a number! Sort of. It doesn't seem like much of a number."

"Number? What number?"

"_i,_" she said, closing the umbrella. Xion made a mental note to clean it up later. _"No_. _i_."

"So, we should call you '_i_', is that it?"

"No, no, no. I was in the Organization before I got here. So the did the Organization thing and gave me a new name."

"What is it, '_Ix'?"_

"What the– '_Ix?_" Xion's eyebrow went up without her notice. "It's not just '_i',_ it's '_No. i.'_"

"So... 'Ixion'?"

"That's one _i_ too many."

"Ixon, then."

Xion sighed. "Close enough. It's 'Xion', okay?"

"Shee-on?" the other replica repeated for clarification. "There's no _X_ in that."

"_X-I-O-N, Xion,_" she explained. "Got it memorized?"

"_Got it memorized?"_ The Riku replica sent a frown in her direction. "Catchphrase thief."

"It was the perfect oppertunity!" she said defensively, holding her hands up. "I couldn't resist after I've heard it so many times." She put her hands down slowly. "So, you know Axel, too?"

"Yeah, but I never really liked him much..."

Silence came back for another hug, but ran away after someone picked up a can of soda.

"...I don't like it," she said after a fizzy gulp.

"The soda?" the Riku replica asked. "I like it."

"Not the soda," she said. "Your names."

"Our names?" the Shadow asked, after a long time of being silent. "What's wrong with our names?"

"It's confusing. Sora's the keybearer; not a Shadow, and Riku is Sora's best friend, not a silver haired pretty boy in a man-skirt."

"Hey!" the Riku replica exclaimed, insulted. "The real Riku once wore a man-skirt– I mean, dark suit, too, you know!"

"Haha, you admitted to wearing a dark suit," the Shadow said, chuckling.

"No I didn't," the Riku replica countered.

"Hehe, you just keep telling yourself that," the Shadow said.

The Riku replica sighed. "You were saying?"

"Your names," she continued. "I have a problem with them."

"And?"

"I'm going to rename you both," she announced.

The other two gawked at her before saying a _"What?_" in unison.

"I'm going to–"

"We know what you're going to do," the Riku replica said, "it's just... who let you change our names?"

"My foresight in regards to conversations regarding the people that share your names, which, I feel, will appear frequently in the current phase of our lives, due to our current location and our connections to said people."

"Oh..." The other two took a few seconds to process this.

Xion pointed at the silver-haired boy. "You first. 'Riku Replica' is two syllables too long for my taste."

"Okay, what do you have in mind?"

"Hmm..." Xion tapped her temple. "...I'm drawing a blank."

The Shadow offered an idea. "How about, 'Repliku'?"

"Oh, wait, wait, wait, how about 'Rica'?"

"No, that's a girl's name," he disagreed.

"Guys, 'Repliku'?" the Shadow brought back up.

"So, how about Ricky? It's a dude's name."

The Riku replica shook his head. "It's got some vibes I'm not syncing with."

"Um, 'Repliku' is still–"

"Okay, then, maybe 'Rainhart'?"

"It sounds interesting, but no. It has the word 'heart' somewhere there."

"Riku, Xion, what about 'Repliku'?"

"Oh, I got it. How about... 'Sheldon'?"

"Did you pull that name out of a hat or something?"

"Riku, Xi-"

"I got it!" Xion stood up as if she just had the greatest idea in the universe. "How about–"

"No."

"I didn't even finish," Xion said.

"I'm sure it's not a good idea, whatever it is."

"Okay..."

They paused. Xion was out of ideas, and the her silver-haired acquaintance didn't have any ideas of his own. They listened to the ticking of the clock, waiting for the other to do something.

"Uh, guys?" the Shadow spoke up, uncomfortable in the silence.

"Yup?" they said in unison.

"I have a name."

"What is it?" they asked in chorus.

"'Repliku'," the Shadow told them.

"'Repliku'?" Xion repeated, letting the name hang in the air. "Of course! Replica Riku! Repliku! Genius! Why couldn't I think of that?"

"Because you were too busy thinking about 'Sheldon'," Repliku answered. "But before you start using that name, call me 'Riku' until it gets confusing."

"Why?" Xion asked, in the middle of shaking hands with the Shadow.

"I like the name," he said with a shrug.

"Alright. So I can call you Repliku when I feel like it."

"What? Wait, that's not what we–"

"Your up next, Sora!" She grabbed the Shadow from its chair and settled it on her lap, giving it a rub-down.

"H-Hey!" it said against the action. "I'm not just a – Oh."

"Aw, you like that, don't you?" Xion cooed, rubbing the surprisingly fluffy layer of darkness on the Heartless.

"A little to the left, please?" it asked, shifting for a more comfortable spot. The Shadow's antennae drooped lazily when it settled down.

"Ergh-hhem!"

The two looked Riku, who was tapping his foot impatiently. "Sorry about interrupting the fluff, but we were talking about it's name."

"He's not an _it_!" Xion angrily yelled. "Ciel is a _he_, Riku! He's not just some object that does stuff for you!" Xion hugged 'Ciel' the Shadow "He has feelings, too, you know!"

Riku looked at Ventus, afraid that Xion's outburst would wake him up. It didn't seem that he was bothered in the slightest. Comfortable with talking, he continued. "Did you just call it–"

"_Him,"_ Xion corrected insistently, glaring daggers at the silver-haired boy.

"Did you just call _him_ - " He paused for approval. Xion nodded for him to continue. "...'Ciel'? Did you really just call him Ciel?"

"Yes, yes I did." She resumed petting. "Is there something wrong with the name I chose?"

"Where did it come from?"

"Do you know French?" she asked cryptically.

"No."

"Then you'll never understand."

"Where did you learn French?"

"The same person who taught me how to take over people's minds from the inside," she answered nonchalantly.

"And that person would be...?"

"You probably don't know her."

The answer made it clear to Riku that she wasn't going to say anything about it no matter how much he asked, so he dropped the subject.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"Yep. I wanna know why you knocked Ven out."

"I blame paranoia..." Ciel mumbled.

"He's right... sort of," Riku mumbled. "I was walking around in the dark, trying to find Ciel over there, who disappeared for some reason, only leaving a note saying that he needed to find something. It was getting late, and he was the only other living thing I could find around here, so I thought we were the only ones." He paused to see if Xion was listening.

"...Go on."

"So I was going around, looking for Ciel in the dark, when all of a sudden, I hear these footsteps, and they're heavy, slow, and offbeat, like they belong to two different things. I knew that it wasn't his, because Ciel's were a lot slower, so I hid in a room and put myself in that blind spot that was covered by the door when you open it. I stayed as quiet as I could, but it didn't seem like it was enough, because someone opened the door. I hoped that they just entered in a quick search, and still had no idea I was right behind the door. In any different case, I would've summoned Soul Eater, but the person spoke before I had time to think. It was a guy's voice, and it said, 'You're not supposed to be here. Better find the the others..." He paused, took a few steps closer, stopping just enough for me to see his shoe, and continued '...or better yet, a way out.' And then he left."

"...What?"

"You listening?"

"People don't have to talk while listening. They're supposed to stay quiet and focused on the speaker. Now go speak so I can listen."

"Okay, so after a few minute, I was pretty sure he was gone, so I got out and continued looking for Ciel. What that guy said about 'the others' was creeping me out a bit, but I shook it off. A few minutes later, I found this light in the hallways. It was floating, and pretty easy to spot, 'cause of its brightness. And then I saw that it was a person. I thought it was that guy that found me in the room, so I sneaked up on him, and right after you finished giving him directions, I wacked his head. When I did, his light went out, so it was dark again. Luckily, I'm a Riku replica, so I can go around in a blindfold and never bump into anyone."

"You must be a good piñata whacker, then."

Riku groaned. "I thought you said that people don't have to talk while they're listening."

"Commentary is a good thing," Xion said. "And I've been wanting to bring up your piñata skills for a long time."

Riku groaned again. "Fine. Anyway, it was dark again, but I could still sorta ee my way around, so I just followed your directions, found you in that room, got my head whacked by an umbrella, and then, a few minutes later, we find ourselves here."

"So it _was_ paranoia, huh?" Xion remarked.

"Shut up. If you were in my shoes, you would've run away."

"You don't know me enough to say that." Xion stood and placed Ciel on his chair. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go take a nap."

"I'm gonna take one myself," Riku said, following Xion out the door.

Ciel hopped off his chair and followed Xion, closing the door behind him.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Xion," Ciel spoke up at the foot of Xion's bed, in the basket he found on her desk. Xion had welcomed him to stay in her room, and gave him the basket, as well as a pillow and a small blanket to sleep on.<p>

"Hm?" Xion responded from under the sheets.

"When you wake up, Roxas will need your help," he said.

"Roxas?" Xion repeated. "Why?"

"Day 358," Ciel said, regarding the game Xion had been playing.

"358..."

"You need to be there to keep Ven's heart from getting lost," Ciel said.

"Ven's heart? Why would it..." Xion stopped when she felt that Ciel had already fallen asleep. "Okay, I'll just go along with that." Then, she went to bed, and slept like a log.

* * *

><p>"That's five points for Anti-Riku, now," Ventus said, ticking another mark on the scoreboard under 'Anti-Riku'.<p>

"I don't get it, Repliku," Ciel said. "How do you keep losing to yourself?"

"His talent lies elsewhere, Ciel," Xion answered with an odd accent. "We best not interfere, else Repliku fail once more."

"You've been playing too much Final Fantasy IV, Xion," Ventus said, fiddling with the marker. "And you can quit the act now, else I become influenced by – agh, too late."

Xion chuckled while Repliku was beaten by Anti-Riku for the sixth time. "You'll grow out of it," she said. "Meanwhile, go put another tick on the 'Anti-Riku' column."

"You seem pretty proud," Ventus said, marking the board. "If I remember correctly, you didn't do much better."

"Are you kidding me? I kept winning. Look at my board." Ventus flipped the whiteboard over to see her score. True to her word, Xion had won every time, but that wasnt saying much when you shared a score with your enemy. "See?" she said. "A win-win situation, and I won every time."

"Haha, very funny," Ventus said, flipping the whiteboard back over. He was just about to cap the marker back when he flinched from another boy's victorious outburst.

"Hah! Eat that, yellow-eye!" Repliku started dancing like a monkey in a sugar rush, unnerving everyone else in the room. When he noticed their expressions, he stopped immediately. "Sorry."

"I take it you won," Xion said, looking at the 'Mission Complete' screens of his handheld gaming device.

"And it was _sweet,"_ he said, picking his DS up.

"Then allow me to salt it, then. The score now is 1-6. Congrats."

Repliku slumped. "Remind me to thank you later."

"You're welcome," she said. "Oh, hey. Any of you want to do a Ruler of the Sky time attack?"

"I'm in," Repliku said.

"Me too," Ventus added.

"Not me," Xion said. "I can't stand that boss." Looking in n particular direction, she noticed Ciel, and remembered a question she kept forgetting to ask. "Ciel, weren't you smaller while you were on my lap a sometime ago?"

Ciel shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I shrink when you pet me?" Now that he thought about it, he did seem to be a bit smaller when he was being petted in any way.

"Cool, I have shrinking powers," Xion said jokingly. She checked the boys' screens. It seemed that they actually were trying to defeat the Ruler of the Sky. "That looks a bit fun now," she mumbled to herself.

Xion took her statement back two hours later, when she saw them, and they were still trying to defeat the boss. She and Ciel decided to get to bed before the fight dragged on any longer.

Both of them woke up in the middle of the night when they heard a few 'NOOOO!'s from Ven's room. Xion just laughed a bit, however. They'd probably spend the whole night trying to beat it.

* * *

><p>Was that any good? Sorry for it being mostly dialogue, I'm gonna try to imagine things better next time. And now, I feel like doing review replies. Oh, and before anyone starts asking, I'm only gonna reply to the ones I can actually reply to. If it's nothing more than a thank you, (which I give to 99.9% of reviewers) then I won't type anything down here. Ahem!<p>

**Flightfoot: **Greetings, fellow TWEWY gamer! I'd have to thank you for your reviewing. For Ven not remembering Vanitas, I'd have to say yes and no, since actually giving an answer may or may not affect one of the next chapters. Sorry 'bout that. And the rest of your questions will probably be answered sooner or later. Can't tell you now, 'cause that'd be spoiling. As for the green pigs, I am actually delighted that you were thinking sbout the same thing I was when I typed that up. Because, if you ask anyone else what they think of when they hear 'green pig', they think 'Angry Birds'. I checked with my sis. Oh, and Ciel's name? (I knew someone would think about Black Butler. I know I did when the idea hit me.) I gave a hint. But I don't know French, actually.

**R O K U S H I:** Hmm, I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull that off. I'm not good at that type of stuff, but I'll try. And if, somehow, I learn how to do it right, by divine intervention or just some random dude on the street who tells me how in five words or less, then I will. But to be fair, since this is a humor fic that I, a weird person, wrote, then expect it to be... I dunno.

Agh, I can't stop apologizing. I still can't come up with anything good. If anyone has some tips, please, review. I'm trying to get better. Okay, be seein' ya.


	6. Thinking With Dark Corridors

OMNOMNOM. And the pie is gone. Muhahaha, I sound so bored right now.. You guys aren't missing anything. I'm gonna upload two chapters straight because it seemed too long.

In case any of you were confused, the last chapter happens during the time Ventus was knocked out, and not after chapter 4. The last segment, however, is placed correctly. When reading my fics, be sure to keep an extra brain around, sicne I am very hard to keep track of. Even _I _need one.

Do any of you know the most popular fanfiction character in this fandom? The answer is... at the bottom. Better start digging!

Note: Chapter naming has changed, though I can't think of any way to change them, so it will be effective starting now.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Talking Sticks: Someone Faceplants<em>**

* * *

><p>"...and thus my jacket got its black and white color scheme," Ventus finished his tale about his jacket. Taking a self-satisfied sip of orange juice, he congratulated himself for another story well told.<p>

"That was crazy," Repliku said, stuffing another waffle slice in his mouth. He was no longer clad in his purple suit – partially because Xion would not stop bringing the 'man-skirt' up – and was instead wearing a simple t-shirt and shorts, which he found was much more comfortable than his suit. "Why did Terra have a box of candy canes hidden in his closet in the first place?"

"I dunno," Ventus said, "maybe he had a sweet tooth or something. But his teeth were always in top condition..."

Ventus's deep speculation regarding candy canes and dental care was interrupted by the sound of his black-haired replica friend falling face-first onto the floor from a dark corridor that she created. He and Repliku noticed that there was a scepter-like object in her hands, and that she must've come in here to tell them about it.

"Xion?" Repliku asked. "Are you okay?"

To their surprise, Xion picked herself up faster Ventus's spoon could fall off the table. "Surprisingly, after falling a hudred feet down from the Station of Serenity only to save myelf by creating a dark corridor to fall into, I feel fine," she answered.

"You fell from the top of the station?" Ventus asked. "And you saved yourself through a portal?"

"It's kind of funny, actually," Xion said. "Imagine this; you're falling, then you make a portal that you fall into, which leads to the kitchen. First gravity's pulling you down, and then, when go through the portal, gravity is suddenly pulling you a different way, and it feels like you were standing on a swing or something." She pointed to the floor. "It felt like I fell from there."

Before Repliku could work out the science to Xion's rushed explanation, Ventus asked another question. "What are you holding?"

"That's what I wanted to tell you about," Xion answered, waving the scepter around. "You see this?"

Ventus nodded. Essentially, the scepter Xion held was just a blue crystal ball on a stick. The crystal was glowing, giving it a sort of angelic aura that Ventus couldn't help but feel was familiar somehow.

"This," Xion began, "is a talking stick."

A clock nearby ticked thrice.

"...What?" Repliku asked, an incredulous expression plastered on his face.

"This is a talking stick," Xion said. "A stick that can talk. A stick that was given the ability to talk. A bar with capacity to communicate verbally. A long, brittle object with–"

"We know that," Repliku said. "It's just, how can that stick talk?"

"It can!" Xion insisted. "It sounds just like me, even!" She put the stick in front of her face. "C'mon, talking stick, talk for us!"

The stick was silent.

"Hello?"

The stick made no sound, as if mocking Xion.

She began shaking it. "C'mon! I know you're in there!"

The stick was still.

"Xion," Repliku said after a silence that the other replica did not approve of, "that's a stick."

To their further astonishment, the stick made a sound, "'A stick'? You guys are calling me a stick?"

"No," Ventus said. "We thought you were a talking stick, not just a stick." Xion was right about the stick sounding just like her. "Who are you?"

"Me?" the stick asked, "I'm Kairi. At least, I think I'm Kairi."

"Huh?" Ventus said, taking the stick. "But Kairi's in the real world. You're here with us in Sora's heart."

"Really?" Kairi said. "That's funny. I thought I was Kairi. That's my name, after all. Maybe you're confusing me with someone else."

"No, there must be a reason you call yourself Kairi," Ventus said. "You sound just like her, after all."

"You know what?" Repliku said. "I think Ciel might know something about this. Wanna go ask?"

"Alright," Ventus agreed. "He seems to know what's going on most of the time, so I'msure he can say something useful about this."

* * *

><p>Ciel examined the stick thoroughly, curiosity and deep thought evident in his gaze. At last, he came to a firm conclusion.<p>

"What the heck _is_ this thing?" he said with finality.

"We were hoping you knew," Repliku said. "You really have no idea?"

"Never in the time of my existence have I come across something as mysterious and peculiar as this," he replied. "All I know is that this thing has to be realted to Sora's mind. I'm not exactly sure how, though."

"It calls itself Kairi," Xion noted. "It has to be related to her somehow."

The stick wiggled in Ciel's grasp. "Hey, wait," it said. "Did you guys just say 'Sora'?"

"Yeah," Ventus answered. "Spiky hair, goofy smile, big blue eyes? That Sora? You know him, too?"

"Of course I know him!" The stick said, hopping out of Ciel's hand. "He and I are best friends! I remember one day, when we were sitting on the paopu tree at the island. Tidus's blitzball suddenly flew out of nowhere and hit Sora, so he held on to me, but I slipped, and we both fell down!" It giggled a bit. "Tidus wouldn't stop apologizing after that." It continued to reminisce about several different occasions, most of them being with Riku. Xion noticed that in all of its stories, Sora was is such a place that he would know everything that the stick knew.

"Ven," Xion whispered while Kairi continued to speak.

"Yeah?" Ventus whispered back.

"I need you to keep Kairi occupied for a while," she said. "Ciel, Repliku and I have to talk."

"What?" Ventus said. "Why me?"

"Because you're the only people person we have around here," Xion said. Turning to the stick, she continued to speak normally. "Excuse me, Kairi."

"Yeah?" the stick responded.

"We have to go for a little while," Xion said, putting her hands on Ciel and Repliku's shoulders. "It's important. Sorry for having to go."

"No problem," Kairi said. "I'll have him to keep me company for a little while."

Xion assumed it was referring to Ventus and left, taking the other two with her out the hallway. "So, guys," she began, "any new ideas so far?"

"Nothing here," Repliku said. "What, you have something in that head of yours, Xion?"

"Yeah," Xion said. "Did you guys notice that all those stories that the stick was telling us about had Sora in them?"

Repliku gave that notion some thought. "Now that you mention it, yeah," he said. "It's almost like it's some sort of Sora fangirl or something."

"There's a reason for that, isn't there?" Xion asked, mostly to Ciel.

"I think..." Ciel started, "...That that stick is a physical manifestation of Sora's memories of Kairi."

"But why does it look like a stick and not Kairi, like Xion?" Repliku asked. "Isn't Xion pretty much the same thing?"

"I am not that stick!" Xion objected. "I'm Sora's replica, made from samples of his memories. It just so happens that Kairi is a big part of Sora's memories, so I happen to look like her. Most of the time. It's confusing and twisted, so don't ask."

"...Huh?"

"Back on topic," Xion said, "so that stick is Sora's Kairi memories, right?"

"Yep," Ciel said.

"Then there should be a Riku stick or something, somewhere at the top of the station."

"The top?" Repliku asked. "Why the top?"

"That's where I found it," Xion explained. "I go to the top of the station to get whiff of fresh... um, water, but I find these talking sticks hopping around everywhere, so I watch them, and suddenly, this one stick that sounds like me accidentally hops off the edge, so I heroicly jumped down to save it. I grabbed it while it was falling, luckily, but I couldn't stop myself from going down, so to prevent my splatified demise, I made a dark corridor below me to fall in, which is why I did a faceplant in the kitchen earlier."

"Oh," Repliku said. "_Now _it makes sense. I was wondering why you fell off the station. Apparently it was on purpose."

"And what exactly will we do with these sticks?" Ciel asked.

Suddenly, a loud static resounded from out of nowhere, with a girl's voice following soon after. "Hello? If there's anyone there, I'd like to ask for some help restoring Sora's memory."

Repliku instantly recognized the voice. "Naminé? Naminé! Can you hear me?" He looked around the area, hoping to find where the voice was coming from.

"I'm afraid this is a one-way communication, so there's no way I can tell if there's anyone to hear me or not," Naminé said, inciting a slump from Repliku. "But of you _are _there and _can_ hear me, I need you to gather all of Sora's memories in one place. I can't work on them while they're scattered everywhere. Thank you."

"So that was Naminé..." Xion muttered.

"And we have to help her!" Repliku yelled firmly.

"Whoa, Repliku, chill out," Xion said, putting her hand in front of her to calm her fellow replica down. "We'll find them, don't worry. Just take deep breaths, and–"

"I'm not that worked up, Xion," the silver-haired boy grounded out irritably.

"Well, you seemed like the emotional type." She shrugged. "Can't be too careful."

"If I may interrupt," Ciel asked, shrinking himself and jumping onto Xion's head to get their attention. Being so short made him harder to notice, but being small enough to rest on a higher place would fix that. Plus, Xion was rather short, so he didn't climb too high up. "So we have to get all those memory sticks, right?"

"Yeah," Repliku answered to the little Heartless.

"So we have to go to the top of the station to get them," Ciel said.

"Isn't that one place already?" Xion asked her head ornament.

"Maybe there are more scattered in other places," Repliku guessed.

"Oh..." Ciel said. "...That's not good."

"Not good at all," Repliku agreed sadly.

"You guys are talking about all the floors in this place, aren't you?" Xion said, crossing her arms.

"There are at least a hundred," Ciel said, "and they're huge."

"Then each of us will cover twenty floors, right?" Xion said.

"And if Castle Oblivion wasn't big enough," Repliku said, disheartened.

"They can't be that big, can they?" Xion asked hopefully.

"What about that floor we met you in?" Ciel brought up.

Xion's eyes widened in realization. "...Uh-oh."

"There's gotta be a way to track them down," Repliku said.

"Maybe Naminé will help us with her witchcraft," Xion said with a shrug.

"We better hope so," Ciel said.

Repliku was just about to tell them to quit talking and start looking when the door flew open with a slam. In half a second, Kairi flew out the room in a stream of light and circled around Xion like an agitated pixie.

Ciel immediately leaped off her head and grew to his regular size, beffudled by the sudden, unexplainable occurence. "What in Sora's heart is going on with Kairi?" he asked, voicing what everyone – including Ventus, who had just recently come running out the room – had been thinking.

Xion was getting dizzier by the second as Kairi continued to fly around her. "I have no ide – Aaahhh!" Xion suddenly began to glow and float, and then was wisked away in the same direction as Kairi, as if Kairi pulled her there. "Somebody help meee!"

"Kairi! Xion!" Ventus shouted. Soon, the small glow that was Xion had vanished from sight.

"What just happened?" Repliku yelled in understandable confusion. Xion was glowing and got dragged away by a floating stick, after all. The situation was rather absurd, even to him.

Suddenly, a dark corridor appeared on the wall of the hallway, and a glowing figure with black hair popped out, but swiftly flew in the same direction Xion did. It took an extra second for them to realize that it _was _Xion. Repliku thought quick and made another corridor where Xion flew away from them, placed in such a way that she would fly in and out of the portals in a steady beat.

"Guys – you – should've – seen it!" Xion said as she flew, her speech hindered by her flight back and forth. "I – absorbed – the stick!"

"What?" Ventus blurted out. "How?"

"I – don't – know!" she answered. "Kairi – just – turned – into – lightstreams – and – flowed – into me – or – something! It – was – weird!"

"It still is..." Repliku remarked.

"Ooh – I got – an idea!" Xion said. "Quick – grab – my – leg!"

"Why?" Ventus asked.

"We – might – find – more – sticks!" she said.

"Stick?" Ventus asked, looking at Repliku as if his face would enlighten him. "For what?"

"I'll explain later," Repliku told him. "For now, we have to follow Xion. We have to make a chain, so grab my leg after I grab hers." Repliku focused and jumped, succesfully getting a grip on the glowing replica's leg. He noticed that during his short conversation with Ventus, Xion managed to position herself so she flew like some sort of comic book superhero. It made things easier for the both of them, even if they did look ridiculous. Ventus and Ciel held on to the other leg, and they flew down the hall once Repliku closed the second corridor.

* * *

><p>The answer is Roxas, with over 17 thousand fics tagged with his name. I didn't really check if that's the absolute most, but I'm quite sure that's it. However, I'm sure most of them are with Axel, who has about 15 thousand. The hero, Sora, has about 15 thousand, but a few hundred more than Axel. In case you're curious, Riku has around 11 thousand, Kairi with around 5 thousand, Naminé has 4 thousand.<p>

Team MiSH? Ven's in the 7 hundreds, Xion is barely in the thousands, Repliku's got a bit over a hundred, and Ciel, the little Heartless... doesn't have his name on the characters list. Maybe we could list him as Anti-Sora?

Enough statistics, was this chapter too short? Okay? Terrible? Wonderful? Makes you wanna ride a pony? Reviews are welcome, and will be treated to a hot bath, massage, and free pancakes, as well as a Ventus plushie.


	7. A Glomp is Stolen

**IMPORTANT: This is chapter seven. If you have missed chapter six, turn back.**

I came across a revelation in the shower today. According to reliable sources which I am too lazy to name, Xion was meant to be a calm and pure character, and Aqua was meant to contrast her personality. What part of Aqua isn't calm and pure? Her hair? Shiny. Her eyes? KH-style. Her fighting style? Blow up opponents... with flair. Dunno.

More strange logic... at the bottom.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Talking Sticks: The Unnamed Second Part<em>**

* * *

><p>"Where are we going?" Ventus asked, keeping his grip tight.<p>

"I don't know," she answered. "I'm just going – Whoa!" The four suddenly phased through a wall, followed by a dozen or so different rooms, until they noticeably slowed down to the point that Ventus, Repliku and Ciel merely needed to walk along with Xion, who remained afloat.

"This is getting weirder and weirder," Repliku mumbled as they walked. The four followed the Xion to a gigantic, white room filled with multicolored chains. Most of which were short and disconnected, scattered across the floor worse than sprinkles on a cupcake.

"What are these?" Ventus wondered, picking a chain up and letting it hang from his hand.

"From what I've seen, memories," Repliku answered, familiar with the room's whiteness. "Some disconnected chains of memories."

"Memories are made of chains?" Ventus asked him.

"I don't know exactly, but they're a lot like chains in the way you can disconnect and reconnect them, or make them longer," Repliku answered, picking one up for himself, "or at least, that's what I've heard."

"And what are we supposed to do with them?" Xion asked, joining their conversation.

"Beats me," Repliku answered, dropping the chain back on the floor.

"Maybe we have to put them together or something," Ciel suggested, testing his theory for himself with two chains. Ventus looked at the chains Ciel held. They seemed to fit perfectly, but they didn't stay together.

"Apparently not," Ventus remarked.

"Putting memories together is Naminé's job," Repliku said.

"I feel pretty clueless 'cause of all these questions I'm asking," Ventus said. "Who's Naminé?"

"A self-proclaimed witch who can control Sora's memories," Repliku informed. "She kind of messed his memories up about a year ago, and has been working on fixing it ever since. It wasn't her fault, though."

"So she has to fix _this_ mess?" Ventus asked in disbelief. "It's so... cluttered. I don't see how she can do it."

"Well, she's the only one who can," Repliku said. "At least we get to help."

"We better!" Ventus said.

"I'm gonna start looking, then," Repliku said, picking a direction and running off to find another talking stick.

"Hey guys, I found one!" Xion called from a distance, running over and holding another scepter. "It says its name is Leon!"

The stick jumped out of her hand. "So you guys have to gather up all the sticks, huh?"

"Yeah," Ventus said to the stick.

"Well, you guys are lucky to have this girl around," Leon told them. "Seems she attracts memories like us. She even seems like a memory herself."

"Do I?" Xion asked, looking at her hands. Still glowing, she noted.

"It's not just because Kairi's with you, either," the stick added. "I can't put my finger on it, though."

"You don't have any fingers," Ventus said awkwardly.

"Oh," Leon said. "So that's why."

"Do you know something about this, Leon?" Xion asked. "This whole situation, I mean, talking sticks and all."

"Yes, I do," Leon answered. "Apparently, sticks like us are drawn to you, while you are also drawn to us sticks, though there's a difference that's hard to explain."

"Try," Ventus urged.

"Of course," Leon said. "You saw the Kairi stick turn into light, right? So you absorbed it, and it led you to me. Absorbed sticks will only lead you to the _room_ that the other sticks reside in, and not the sticks themselves. Once you find the stick, you absorb it, and then it pulls you over to the next room, where the next stick is."

"Then it repeats, right?" Ciel said after being silent the whole time.

"Yes, it does," Leon answered. "Get your Repliku friend back here. You'll be flying in a minute."

"Got it," Xion said. Leon tranformed into a stream of light and flowed into her, the same way Kairi did minutes ago. Xion began to float once again.

"Repliku!" Ventus called. "C'mere! We might leave without you!"

"What?" Repliku said from behind them, emerging from a white armchair. "Hey, don't just start floating without me!"

Ciel grabbed a leg and hung as Xion rose slowly. "Hurry! She's about to take off!"

Ventus grabbed the other leg as Repliku held on to Ciel's leg, half a second before Xion shot through the wall at high speeds.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Ciel wasn't exactly fond of Repliku's grip on his tiny leg. "That hurts!"

"If I let go, I'll be in trouble, so stop complaining and wait for Xion to pull us to our next destination!" Repliku shouted.

"Mush!" Ventus yelled happily, enjoying the ride. "Faster, Xion, mush!"

"I'm not a Balto spoof, Ven," Xion answered.

"It was the perfect opportunity!" Ventus reasoned as they phased through the multiple ceilings below the roof.

The team slowed to a stop when they reached the top of the station, looking at the mess of hopping, talking sticks around them. Some of them even seemed to be talking to each other.

"What the..." Repliku gaped at what he saw. Ventus patted his shoulder comfortingly.

"You should be used to this by now, you know," Ventus said. "I'm sure you'll see weirder while you're still here."

"They're moving by themselves..." Repliku didn't seem to notice Ventus's voice amidst the sticks' own voices.

Ventus left Repliku there to gawk while he consulted Xion on what to do.

"Well, " Xion began, "for starters, we follow Leon's directions and have me absorb everyone here." They paused. "...That sounds a little creepy, don't you think?"

Ciel and Ventus nodded simultaneously. "But that's what we're here to do," Ventus said.

"Yup, so go get me some, uh, sticks to absorb!"

"Like this one?" Ventus said, holding a stick that passed on front of him. It wriggled around in his hand for abour five seconds, then gave up, and tried to slouch. Being a stick, it couldn't.

"What do you want with me?" the stick asked.

"Who are you?" Ventus asked back.

"It depends. What do you want with me?"

"To know who you are, of course," Ventus said.

"Riku," the stick stated simply. "Now let me go."

"Riku, huh?" Ventus confirmed. "We need you to stay with us, Riku."

"Why?" it asked, getting impatient.

"Sora needs you to," Ventus said calmly.

The stick stayed silent for a moment, likely thinking. "...Okay."

"Good," Ventus said, pleased with Riku's easy agreement.

"Hey guys, look at me!" Ciel called from afar.

Xion, Ventus, and the Riku stick all looked at him at the same time, finding a Darkside holding a number of scepters in on hand.

"Ciel?" Repliku exclaimed in disbelief, awakened from his reverie. "What happened to you?"

"I figured out how to get bigger!" Ciel said happily. It was rather frightening to hear Sora's voice coming from a Darkside. It didn't help that the Darkside was holding several sentient sticks in one hand, either.

"What the – Kairi! Sora!" The Riku stick tried to jump to the rescue, but Ventus held it down.

"Stay here!" Ventus yelled as he struggled to keep the stick from flying away. "Xion! Can you absorb them now?"

"Maybe," Xion said in a manner much more apathetic than those of her companions. "Aaand, I can't."

In a bright flash, the collection of sentient sticks that Ciel held in his hand glowed and streamed out like liquid fireworks, closing in on Xion before disappearing into her.

"Oh, wait, I can," Xion muttered, amused. She then made a thumb-up in Ciel's direction, grinning. "Thanks for the catch, Ciel! Made things a lot easier!"

Ciel began shrinking. "My pleasure, Xion," he said when he reached his normal size.

"How many were you holding?" Repliku asked.

Ciel counted off his fingers, a task espacially difficult for those with three on each hand, such as him. He had to recount three times before reaching a conclusion. "I'd say about twenty."

"Who were those twenty?" Repliku inquired further.

"I don't know," he answered.

"Oh, uh, wait, lemme check." Xion brought her hands to her head and closed her eyes in concentration as she rummaged through the pile of memories that she had just absorbed, picking out who were in there and who weren't. "We're missing Genie, Jiminy, Pete and... oh, Ansem."

"That's it?" Ventus asked.

"Yep," Xion said, the effects of memory absorption beginning to take place as she levitated once more. "Hey, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this floating thing." She curled up into a ball and spun around in midair, akin to an asteroid.

"Stop fooling around," Repliku said disapprovingly. He slapped Xion's head hard enough to make her spin even faster.

While all three of the station-bound beings seemed to take amusement to their friend's rotary state, they were surprised when she suddenly shone ten times brighter and plummeted down to the next collection of talking sticks. Before they could react, they were left alone on the top of the Station on Serenity, clueless on what to do next.

"...What now?" Ventus wondered.

Repliku shrugged. "Pizza?" he suggested.

"We have pizza?" Ventus asked.

"I found some in my closet," Repliku explained, "warm, toasty, fresh out of the oven. Stuffed 'em in the fridge."

"What kind?" Ciel asked.

"I don't remember, but one had pepperoni," Repliku answered. "I'm pretty sure one of them had–"

"Let's go!" Ventus exclaimed in ecstasy, running to the entrance.

An unfamiliar voice halted him. "You're just going to leave her?"

Ventus blinked and looked around for the voice. It wasn't behind him... not at his left... or right... and obviously not–

"Wah!" Ventus stumbed back in surprise when he looked ahead. A girl an a white dress, about his height, stood calmly in front of him, bearing a knowing expression, as if she knew he was going to stumble like that few seconds prior. Her eyes were a deep blue, beneath flaxen locks of hair that hung – almost artistically – over her face. He noted that her hair seemed to favor her right shoulder, and stay away from her left.

"Naminé!" Repliku eagerly ran over to the girl, arms outstretched to give her a big glomp.

Naminé sidestepped out of the way just in time to avoid Repliku's glomp. "Sorry," she muttered. "Not really Naminé. I'mwhat she uses to fix Sora's memories up, besides her crayons and pencils."

"If I talk to you, will you give her the message?" Repliku asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid not," she answered, shaking her head. "I'm just a tool, or a representation of her powers. She doen't even know I exist."

Repliku didn't say anything. He merely lowered his eyes, hopes dashed.

"So why are you here?" Ventus asked. "Xion's the one with all the memories. Shouldn't you be looking for her instead?"

"Exactly," Naminé said. "I need to see her, so I can take the memories she has."

"So you need us to lead you to her, right?" Ciel said in comprehension.

"Yes," she said. "But I guess–"

"Yeah, we can't," Repliku admitted. "Sorry 'bout that."

"We'll have to wait, then," Naminé said.

"While waiting, could you tell us something?" Ciel requested. "Why can Xion absorb the sticks?"

Naminé smiled knowingly. "Xion is special," she began. "Since she was originally made out of Sora's memory samples, she can absorb them into her being. The science behind it is actually quite complicated, but if you understand what I'm saying, I won't have to go through all that. Theoretically, if we were in Riku's mind, the the Riku replica would be able to do the same, since some of the real Riku's memories were implanted inside him."

"What about Roxas?" Ciel asked. "Could he have done it, too?"

"Given the right circumstances, I think so, but it would be unlikey. He would have to be here right now to do that, and that would mean that either he returned to Sora prematurely or he and Xion switched places. Iwouldn't have asked for the help, either."

Ventus raised his hand. "What do you mean, 'switched places'?" he asked.

"A few weeks ago, Roxas and Xion were unable to coexist stably because Xion was absorbing Roxas's power, even if she didn't know or wasn't trying to. Her existence also stopped me from repairing Sora's memories, so he couldn't wake up. Eventually, Xion gave up her existence to save them both. If Roxas had given his existence up instead, there would be no way for me to finish, since Xion woud still be around."

Repliku crossed his arms and tapped with one finger. "...Do you hate her for that?"

Naminé's eys widened at the accusation. "Of course not! It's not her fault, anyway. If anything, I'd actually be sad. And I'm a Nobody – I'm not supposed to feel."

"Aw, don't say that, Nami!"

Ventus looked for the voice. "She's back."

From a dark corridor behind Naminé, a figure with a black coat carelessly thrown over a shirt and shorts leaped and glomped the blonde, who cried out in surprise. Ventus noted the wide grin plastered on Xion's visage as she squished the air out of Naminé, who tried to wiggle out of the replica's arms.

"Y-You're acting a lot like Sora now," Naminé croaked under the pressure of Xion's hug.

"Gee, I wonder why," she said, releasing the Nobody. "Anyway, stop saying you can't feel. Anyone who's met Sora _must_ have been infected by the pure glee and happy-go-lucky-ness that he has! I know I have, and I've never met him before!"

Naminé allowed herself a laugh while she caught her breath. "Okay, okay. I just wish I could tell the real me that."

"I'm sure Roxas will do something to that effect, even if he _can_ be a little moody sometimes," Xion assured.

Repliku coughed, getting their attention. "Shouldn't we be finishing this thing? Naminé is waiting."

"Oh! Right." Naminé turned to face her black-haired lookalike. "I need the memories you took."

"And how, exactly, will I give them to you?" Xion asked.

Naminé extended her hand. "We'll shake on it."

Xion took her hand and shook it, and as she did, she glowed golden. Little orbs of yellow light floated away from her and into Naminé, who seemed to be taking her glow, since by the end, Xion was not the one who glowed. When they let go, Naminé muttered a quick "Okay," and began to walk away.

Before she could go, a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She turned to look, and met Repliku's eyes. "Will we ever be able to see you or the real Naminé ever again?" he asked desperately.

Naminé pulled the hand off her shoulder, shaking her head in regret. "I'm sorry, but you won't see me anymore. I'm not sure if you'll see the real Naminé sometime in the future, though, but I'll never see you again. When she finishes, Naminé will get rid of me, whether she knows it or not. But with my leaving–" She turned to Xion. "– you can be sure about seeing Roxas."

Without another word, she vanished in a pillar of light.

Ventus, Ciel and Xion didn't know how to react to that, but Repliku stared at the spot where the girl used to stand. Concluding that he needed a moment, the three others went back inside to search for the pizzas.

* * *

><p>"I feel a little sorry for him, actually," Ventus said as they leisurely strolled down the halls, referring to Repliku.<p>

"Well, if he wants to stand there for twenty minutes, then fine by me," Ciel said. "If he takes too long, though, then there's something wrong with him."

"Then we'll just pull him back," Xion said. "But that's not important right now. We have pizza, right?"

"Yes...?" Ventus muttered. "What about it?"

"Thinking about pizza gave me an idea for a new type of semi-non-lethal weapon!" Xion announced.

"Why is this important?" Ciel asked.

"I dunno," Xion answered. "I thought you guys would be interested."

"That reminds me," Ventus said. "I had this weird feeling when you and Naminé shook hands. Like something similar will happen to Naminé sometime soon, and it'll be important."

_You skip cutscenes, that's why, _Xion thought to herself.

"I had another feeling when Xion mentioned her weapon, like it'll be about something important that'll happen sometime soon."

"No explanation for that," Xion said. "We'll see what happens sometime soon, anyway. For now, pizza."

"Hey wait," Ciel said suddenly. "How am I gonna eat without a mouth?"

* * *

><p>The Replica stood there for some amount of time, reflecting, then looked up and smiled as he voiced something in his mind.<p>

_You're welcome, Naminé._

* * *

><p>Okay, so Xion and Aqua's personalities are supposed to contrast, right? Aqua is also described as the honor student type, according to other sources. (Nomura himself, of course.)<p>

Which means, that if I ever write a high school AU about KH, Xion will do just as well as Sora, that is, well, how do you think Sora does in school? Ho-ho-ho. I am evil. What, you got a problem with that? Okay, then I'll give her a reason for being a flunker. A good, sad, endearing reason that will make you wanna squish her and hug her and stuff.

All reviews will be given the same treatment as last chapter, but this time, with a Xion plushie.


	8. Ven and Repliku Tell a Story

One day late! Cruuuuud! Okay, I'm overreacting. But I am sorry. I don't even know if this chapter's any good.

NOTE: Be sure to tell apart between flashbacks and actual time events in this chapter. Thank you.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Roxas Saves Everyone<strong>_

Roxas knows that he's been in these waters before, sinking the same way he is now. Back then, he didn't quite know what to expect out of this little dive, but now that he did, he'd prefer if he could swim away.

Swim, huh? Perhaps he'd try that. Roxas attempted to move his limbs around, but they stayed limp, sinking along with his body. It seemed like he couldn't fight it. His eyes would've narrowed in annoyance, if he had any control of them at the time.

As he slowly landed on the familiar floor of the Station of Serenity, he felt the control of his body return to him, and jumped to see if he could swim back up. Disappointingly, the 'water' he fell through had turned into thin air, and he plummeted back to the ground roughly. Deciding there was nothing else to do, he inpected the colorful floor. He was familiar with it, though last time he was here, he was too busy to take it all in.

When he saw the entrance to the rest of the heart open, he was surprised. He was almost sure that what he stood on was just on completely solid structure. But, deducing that there was nothing else to do, he shrugged went inside.

He strolled around aimlessly, looking at the various features this building had to offer. There were several signs of life – a bag of potato chips, a messy stack of papers, one room was even cluttered with what seemed like various laser cannon components. It was obvious that someone lived here, but he hadn't bumped into that someone just yet. He heard no noises, no footsteps, no casual humming, nothing but himself.

Until he reached the kitchen.

"_Ven, wait! That's my fore – Ow! Be more careful with that knife!" _The voice was feminine, and familiar. Exactly like Kairi's voice.

"_Sorry!" _Another voice_ – his own – _said. After hearing his own voice, Roxas immediately threw the door open.

"Roxas!" a black-haired girl exclaimed happily. "Roxas, you're here! Help us out of this mess!" She was trapped in a web of duct tape, hanging like a cocoon. Her forehead was bleeding from a cut, but she didn't seem to mind. She was the one with Kairi's voice.

"_That's_ Roxas?" A boy with an appearance identical to Roxas's own wiggled around in a similar duct tape cocoon. "He _does _look like me!"

"What?" Roxas muttered in confusion. "Who are you all? How do you know me?"

"I'm Xion, your lookalike is Ventus, but call him Ven. Pretty boy over there is Repliku –"

"_Pretty boy?" _The silver-haired boy swung his only free fist at the girl. "If there's anyone here that's pretty, then it's –" He paused when he saw Xion's stare and raised brow. "... Never mind. But I'm still offended."

"...And finally," she continued, "the boy in black taped to the ceiling is Ciel, a Heartless."

The black-haired boy wiggled as a greeting. He was rather like Sora, but also like a Heartless.

"Huh?" Roxas had learned their names, but he was still rather confused as to who they were _exactly_.

"Details later, freedom now," Ventus said, wriggling. "Take this, and cut us out." Roxas had only then noticed the knife in his hand, which barely stuck out, and was dangerously close to Xion's face, explaining the cut.

Roxas took the knife and chopped through the mess of duct tape constraining them. Ciel was an especially difficult case, being strapped to the ceiling. In twenty minutes, they no longer hung from straps of tape, though they were still bean-like, and couldn't move their limbs.

"How did this happen?" Roxas asked, carefully cutting straps of tape off of Ventus, who had the thickest layer.

"I'll tell you!" Xion said, wiggling to Roxas like a worm. "It was insane! First, Ventus, Ciel and I were fighting to the death in this simulation room place, but Repliku came in and spoiled everything, so I pulled a ninja trick and shot him with a ping-pong ball, then later, Ventus did a ninja trick and went to the kitchen 'cause he was hungry, so Repliku and I tested the ping-pong ball blaster, so the ammo went through the portal, and then we came in and Ventus went all swirly and – mmmfm!"

"That's enough, Xion," Repliku said, clamping a free hand over her mouth.

Xion shook Repliku's hand off. "Sorry. Got carried away there. It was weird, if you asked me."

"I'll tell you what happened," Ventus offered. "It all started with this battle..."

"Argh!" The black haired boy jumped back, gripping his arm in pain. There was no way to see through her armor, but he knew Xion was smiling.

"Did I hit too hard, Ciel?" she mocked him. The violet, nightmarish sword she had attached to her right arm moved its jaw-like pincer threateningly, as if the sword itself wanted to chop off a piece of its opponent. She pointed it at him and shut the claws forcefully. "You know you can quit, right? I'm telling you, it's fine."

"N-Not a chance!" Ciel yelled. "I won't forgive you for what you've done to Repliku!"

"Psh." Xion waved an armored hand dismissively at the sound of his name. "What could _I_ have possibly done to him? I'm a mere puppet, aren't I? Bound to my strings and such?"

"You gave him to the darkness!" Ciel roared furiously, growing a dark claw of his own. He charged at the armored girl, preparing an attack of his own. He sliced at her, but his hand only ran through thin, empty air.

"Peek-a-boo."

Ciel grimaced as he felt a sharp pain at his back. Xion had impaled him with her sword, raising him off the ground with it. He tried not to focus on the pain, but it became all the more difficult when he felt a form of heated energy accumulate into the sword.

"Light!"

The energy exploded into rays of golden light, and hit him all at once when it was fired. He was blown off her sword, and fell onto the cold, stone floor, writhing in agony. Over the screams of diapproval his body was throwing at him, he heard Xion walk closer. She clicked her tongue.

"You know, Ciel, I'm honestly hurt by such an accusation," she said, kneeling next to him. "I never made him succumb to the darkness. He did it himself."

"You're the one wh-who told him about it!" Ciel choked out. "You tempted him!"

"Ouch," she said. "That still hurts me, really." Xion raised her weapon. "But honestly, it probably doesn't hurt as much as you will."

Ciel braced himself for the finishing blow, closing his eyes. He was wrong to challenge Xion to a battle at his state. He should've taken Ventus's advice and waited. But why would he trust him? He was a traitor, wasn't he? Secretly working for Xion's goals, giving her intel he got from being with Repliku and Ciel.

Seemed like all his friends were gone.

"Xion! Don't!"

Both of them looked up, at the source of the outburst. A blond boy leaped into the room, holding his weapon backwards, like he always did.

They said his name in unison. "Ven?"

He nodded. "Xion, stop doing this! You're wasting your energy on him!"

"Wasting my energy?" Xion repeated, picking herself up. "I hardly broke a sweat beating this guy. It won't make a difference. Why do you want to interfere, anyway? Don't you care about your sister?"

She and Ventus just stared. They had no need for words at this point.

"... You know what I'm here for, don't you?" Ventus finally said.

"For the Wayfinder, right?" Pulled a star-shaped item out of thin air, waving it around. "This little doodad?"

Ventus held a hand out. "I need it back, thanks."

Xion dropped the Wayfinder, allowing it to vanish in light. "I'd like to keep it, thank you very much."

Ventus readied his weapon and charged, forcing Xion to leap away from him. When she turned back, both Ventus and Ciel were up, and ready to fight.

Xion scoffed. "Backing up your buddy, are you?"

"Shut up!" they yelled at her. Ventus flew high into the air, charging up for an attack, while Ciel vanished into the darkness, popping up behind Xion to deliver a punch to her head. Xion hardly felt it through her armor, and used one hand to hoist Ciel up by his neck, and throw him skyward. Immediately, Ventus dived in and caught him, firing an array of shining missiles from his Keyblade. Xion decisively shot herself through the blast, sliding away from each and every one of them, until she was in sword's reach of Ciel and Ventus. Ciel prepared to shoot a blast of dark energy from his hand, and Ventus was ready to swing his Keyblade at Xion. All three knew there would be a devastating clash of powers, had they continued with their attacks. The power of light, darkness, and the void would come together, creating a grand blast that would transcend–

"What are you three doing?"

"Aw, man!" Ventus complained, his Keyblade flickering away, as well as Xion's armor. Ciel's Sora-like form was still intact, however.

"Repliku, you totally ruined the moment!" Ciel said, floating down to the ground with the other two. The holographic image of a stone tower in the core of the darkest part of the universe surrounded by perpetual storm clouds, in ruin due to the tempest-tossed stones that collided against its near-impenetrable walls had disappeared, revealing a regular, albeit sizable, steel-walled room.

"I didn't even know what you three were doing," the innocent imitation indicated.

"We were acting like characters from some sort of anime," Xion explained, "or, at least, something to that effect."

"How?"

"That's a good question." Xion looked at the other two. "Can we explain our roles, one by one?" They nodded in response. "Okay, Ciel, you start."

Ciel pointed a thumb at his chest. "I was playing the angsty, grudge-holding teenage lead who was given the powers of darkness, thanks to some sort of demon-esque person who is later revealed to be who the audience thinks is the main villain, Xion."

Ventus stepped in. "I'm the new guy who was sent to spy on him, from the villain's team, for the sake of his sick little sister. I eventually become a real friend to the hero, and ultimately join his side, because of his other friends, and himself, later on."

"And I," Xion said, "am the enigmatic female classmate of the hero, who does not fight, but is later revealed to be the person behind most of the mishaps that happen around him. They are lead to thinking that I am the main villain, when I am actually on the good guys' side, and the plans they foiled could've helped save the universe from the actual evil guy."

Repliku gave himself a moment to process all this information. "Seem you got a lot of it figured out. I'm actually impressed."

"We even gave you a role!" Ventus enthusiatically exclaimed.

"Me?"

"Yes, you," Ventus started. "You were Ciel's best friend, and you fought alongside him against Xion's dark forces–"

"_Void _forces, Ven," Xion corrected. "It sounds cooler."

"–Xion's _void_ forces," Ventus continued, "but then, at one point, you thought yourself pretty lame compared to Ciel, and when Xion offered you the powers of darkness, you, well, sorta failed. Badly."

"Who came up with this idea?" Repliku asked, secretly offended. How dare they say he can't handle darkness!

"Us," Ciel answered, smirking.

"I'm sorry, _who?"_ he repeated, raising his voice.

Ventus and Ciel exchanged glances, while Xion inspected an interesting speck of dust.

"Xion," the spiky-haired duo answered.

"Okay, Xion, I've had enough of – where are you?" Before Repliku could give her a piece of his mind, Xion had escaped, leaving a wodden signpost that read, "Paper lies below. Decipher the many secrets of this strange 'paper'," sloppily written in black ink. Repliku, familiar with this sign (Xion and Ventus created it to escape Repliku's lectures after they mastered the art of kawarimi), routinely picked a piece of paper up and read it.

_Dear Repliku,_

_Duck._

_Cheese and crackers, _

_Xion_

_Duck?_ he thought. Xion liked to make nonsense, but usually, her notes were sensible somehow, so unless a duck suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, he would assume he was supposed to hit the dirt.

And he did, just in time to avoid a ping-pong ball to the temple. Warily, he rose and turned his head to the direction in which the ball came from, expecting an amused Xion to stand there, sniggering. Instead, he found a mess of ping-pong balls on the floor. She must've escaped.

"That was Xion," Ventus pointed out, more mockingly than informingly. Ah, friends.

"I know," Repliku answered. "What was that about?"

"She was probably testing her new shooting thing," Ciel guessed. "It shoots ping-pong balls, obviously."

Repliku registered Ciel's answer, but asked an unrelated question immediately afterwards, out of curiosity, "Why are you shaped like Sora?"

"What do you think I did while Ven and Xion were practicing their kawarimi thing?"

"I see," Repliku mumbled with a thoughtful nod.

"In fact, Ven's putting it into use right now," Ciel commented, pointing at the wooden signpost where Ven used to be. Repliku noticed and read the piece of paper that came with it.

_Dear Repliku,_

_I am at the kitchen, looking for a snack._

_Thinking about food, _

_Ventus_

"So, he's at the kitchen," Repliku said. "So what?"

"So, nothing." Ciel picked the ping-pong ball up and tossed it up and down from his palm. "You up for some table-tennis?"

Repliku slided the door open. "I think I'll pass."

Even while comparable to a burrito, Ventus didn't run out of air telling his story. And now that he was freed completely, he was quite enjoying story time. Repliku had managed to free himself, and Xion was un-taped twice as fast, thanks to the two pairs of hands that helped her. Ciel was the only one left that needed work.

At this point, Roxas had a good idea of his "new friends'" personalities. He saw Ventus as one of those nice kids in the neighborhood, for example. Repliku seemed like the most level-headed of the bunch, though a bit short-tempered. Xion seemed to be a bit of a trickster, as far as first impressions went. Ciel, despite being a Heartless, seemed rather nice, and was the only one not to pick on Repliku.

How would he fit in all this, he wondered.

"Hey, Roxas!" Roxas was startled by a hand flying near his face. It belonged to Ventus. "I'm not finished yet, so don't get sleepy until the halfway mark. And try to stick around even after that."

"R-right." Roxas scratched his head awkwardly. They were a welcoming little group, he'd give them that.

"I have an idea," Xion said, heading to the fridge. "I won't get hopeful on it bringing memories back, but I'm sure you'll like it." From that fridge, she produced four bars of sea-salt ice cream. "Remember these?"

"Sea-salt ice cream..." Roxas's stare was trained completely on the frozen treat. "How did you know I liked those?"

"It's a long story," Xion handed a bar out. "Here."

Roxas gladly accepted it, and eagerly tore the wrapper off. He chomped a big piece off the stick, grinning. Xion was more than just a trickster, apparently.

"Wow," Ventus commented. "Looks like he loves it."

"It was his favorite snack," Xion said, handing Ventus a pack. "You'd probably like it as much as he would."

Ventus gladly accepted the ice cream, taking a small taste. He made a face in thought of the unique flavor. "It's sweet... but kinda salty, too."

"Of course it is," Xion said. "Now go on with your story before the ice cream melts."

Repliku snatched a pack out of Xion's hand, making her shoot her head in his direction. He stuffed it in his mouth. "I assume it's mine," he said with a mouth half-full. Xion shrugged.

"Hey!" Ciel called from above. "How are you gonna free me with that ice cream in your hand?"

"I think I'll tell the story this time," Repliku said.

"Guys!"

Repliku and Ciel lounged about lazily in the living room. Ciel was rather focused on the book that Xion read a few days ago, while Repliku was solving a sudoku puzzle. It was his twenty-seventh this week.

As he was thinking about whether to place a nine or a seven on a certain box, the door burst open, revealing a very happy Xion holding both handles of a gun-like contraption. There was a tube of some sort above the back handle, and the barrel in front was about as wide as the ping-pong ball he was shot with. He wasn't worried about what that thing could do much at all, since he was more worried about the grin on Xion's face.

That grin was a sign of things to come.

"Hey, Repliku?"

There will never be an escape. "Y-yes?" he stuttered.

Xion slung the gun over her shoulder. "Sheesh, do my ideas scare you that much?"

"Yes, and I would be very thankful if you left me out of it today, thanks for your concern."

"I won't let anything happen to you, Repliku. I promise."

He questioned the sincerity of her tone with an eyebrow.

"There was a pair of shrunken scissors in my last project!" Xion insisted. "So what if it nearly turned us all into cheese? We would've gotten fixed anyway!"

"We might actually get turned into cheese this time, Xion."

Xion was downcast. "Fine," she said, turning her back. It actually made Repliku feel a little guilty.

His guilt didn't last for more than four seconds, luckily, and he returned to his sudoku puzzle with a nonchalant shrug.

"A seven belongs there."

Repliku jumped in his seat. Xion had been looking at his puzzle over his shoulder. "Why are you helping me?" he asked irritably.

"You've been stuck on that same puzzle for the past three days," Xion said. "You finished the other twenty-six just fine, but for some reason, this one has been giving you a truckload of trouble. I thought I'd help out."

"You're doing this to make me help you with your project, aren't you?" Repliku asked.

"Yes," Xion replied guiltlessly. He knew she let him off too easily. "That unit needs a seven because the column it's on will need a nine, thanks to the rest of the numbers that go with the box it's placed in." Repliku reviewed his puzzle, with Xion's words in mind. So far, everything she said was right. "But in the end, putting a seven there will be wrong anyway, since you screwed up with the rest of the puzzle already."

"How do you know?" Repliku asked.

"I worked it out," Xion said. "Now help me with my ping-pong thingamabob so I can stop bugging you about your puzzle."

"Alright, alright," Repliku said, defeated. "What is it?"

"Take this." Xion gave Repliku a paddle. "Now, try to return the stuff I shoot into this corridor over here." She created a dark corridor right next to her.

"Where does that lead?" Repliku asked, pointing his paddle at the portal.

"The kitchen," Xion said. "Ven's probably there."

"Why?"

Xion's eyes widened a bit. "...I dunno. It made sense at the time. Anyway, let's do it."

Roxas finished his last bit of ice cream. "I think I can tell where this is going."

Ventus smirked. "So, you know how we ended up taped, do ya?"

"Actually, I have no idea how that happened, but I'm sure it's got something to do with the corridor leading to the kitchen, where Ven was."

Ciel would've applauded if they had gotten him off the ceiling. "You're pretty sharp, Roxas," he commented. "I would've forgotten that Ven was in the kitchen at the time, if I weren't a part of it."

"Speaking of Ven in the kitchen," Ventus said, "I'll tell tell story this time. I was the only one there, after all."

Upon arriving at the kitchen, Ventus made a beeline for the freezer. For a snack, he liked to have on of two kinds of ice cream: Goofy Parfait or Double Crunch. And today, he felt like having Double Crunch.

When he looked inside the fridge, he was devastated. The shock he experience was unlike any other before. It took him a few moments of complete and utter silence to grasp the sight that was before him.

He was all out of Double Crunch.

Ventus quicky recovered when he realized that he still had some Goofy Parfait left. He gleefully got the treat and finished it within three seconds by dropping it into his mouth. The ice cream was made for battle use, after all, and in battle, you couldn't sit down and enjoy while the enemies try to eliminate you. It took more time to swallow, though, and the brain freeze that followed was unavoidable.

Satisfied, Ventus headed out of the kitchen. But his eye caught something. He froze in place and turned his head. Lo and behold, a thick roll of duct tape layed right beside the stove. He figured it must've been there from the wooden spoon incident with Kairi, even if he didn't quite remember what it was used for. Curious, he peeled a small segment off and stuck it to the wall. Still didn't ring any bells, as far as he could see. He was about to leave when a dark corridor appeared on one end of the ktichen, opposing him. All of a sudden, ping-pong balls flew out of it in rapid succession, hitting him, as well as various kitchen items. The force of impact was great enough to send a few glasses toppling, and for Ven, they _hurt_.

He had to defend himself. Arming himself with a nearby rolling pin, he knocked away some of the flying projectiles, with the rest of them hitting, dodged or missing him completely. His skills have dulled after eleven years in Sora's heart alone. This felt like a sudden test to him.

Luckily for him, this test was short, and he finished up with a swipe that sent the ping-pong ball spectacularly bouncing off the walls and right back into the corridor. It was really quite impressive.

"C'mon, Repliku!" Xion called from the other side of the dark corridor. "We have to see if we wrecked anything!"

"But what about that ball?" Repliku asked. "It's acting like you after seven pancakes!"

"Let it keep bouncing! C'mon!" Xion and Repliku rushed out the portal, taking the sight of the now chaotic kitchen. "...We totally trashed it. Ow!"

Repliku had smacked her upside the head. "You have to clean this up."

"Aw!" Xion teased. "Even after everything I've done to you, you still trust me enough to clean the kitchen on my own!"

"Y'know what? Never mind. I'll clean it."

Ventus inserted himself in the conversation. "What'd you guys do?"

"A little experiment. I'll fill you in on the details later."

Out of nowhere, a Neoshadow pounced on Ventus from the dark corridor. "Gwaaah– Yeow!"

Ventus had whacked it with his rolling pin. "Oh, it's you, Ciel. Sorry."

With a few wisps of darkness, Ciel turned humanoid again. "No problem. But just a warning. The hyperball is gonna come around. Keep your rolling pin at the ready."

"I got it. Hya-aaaaa-_aaaaahhhh!" _Ventus and taken a swipe, but it turned out to be the Cyclone finisher. He spun and spun, bouncing across the room like a pinball, while one handle of his rolling pin hooked onto the hoop of duct tape on the wall. The taped unrolled across the kitchen, sticking onto Ventus's friends as his rolling pin destroyed a majority of the room. The whole thing was improbable.

...At least he hit his target.

"...so, by the end, we ended up taped together, all because of my spinning. Weird, I know, but it was fun."

Roxas was quite impressed with Ven's skill. With the size of the ping-pong balls, they must've been difficult to hit, and with the speed they flew...

Well, he couldn't have pulled it off of he tried.

"So they were flying so fast that they could knock over glasses?" Roxas asked.

"Yeah!" Xion answered. "Repliku hits really hard with a paddle! I was amazed."

Repliku was flattered. "Well –"

"But that skill is useless in real life, so _of course_ he'd be awesome at it! Ack!"

Repliku had elbowed Xion in the gut. "Thanks, Xion."

"My pleasure... Ow..."

Roxas laughed lightly. "You guys seem pretty close. All of you."

"No, we're actually arch-enemies," Ventus said jokingly. "Right guys?"

"Sure we are!" Repliku agreed. "I hate Xion's guts!"

"Xion's guts are hurting..." she croaked.

"Since you're here," Ventus continued. "You're an enemy, too!"

"Am I?" Roxas said, running out of the kitchen. He chuckled. "Catch me, then!"

"Hey!" Ventus eagerly chased him. "Come back here, evil twin!"

"Let's get em, Xion!" Repliku said.

"Not now... Need potion..." Xion mumbled.

"Get me out of this tape, first!" Ciel said.

Ventus returned. "Hey, guys!"

"Yeah?" Repliku answered.

"Since Roxas is here, we're having pizza tonight!"

"What?" Xion said, suddenly recovered. "Why didn't I get a special snack when I got here?"

"Xion, there were two of us. It wouldn't be much of party."

"You make a good point."

"Nice to hear that." Ventus looked at Ciel. "Ciel's paying!"

"What?"

* * *

><p>This seems rushed. I should really do something to fix it.<p>

Why does this seem rushed? My massive family had a truckload of events for this past week, and I couldn't find enough time. I apologize.


	9. Not Much of a Mystery

Okay, so some of you must be thinking, "What the fruitcake? Why did the rating go up to T?" ...Okay, Maybe you aren't, but since the characters will be talking about certain KH-related things, and Xion's existence is one of them... You guys know about this, right? Xion's... clone-issue?

By the way, warning for a sudden mood-whiplash. (Hello, tropers!)

* * *

><p><em><strong>Return to the<strong> **Kitchen**_

* * *

><p>Roxas couldn't help but stare intensely at the black-haired girl across him as they waited for the pizza. It wasn't because he was captivated by her beauty or anything equally ridiculous, but rather, it helped him think. He would look at Xion's face and run it through his memory, trying to see if there was any sliver of her existence in his past. He only ever ended up with a copy of Naminé's face, no matter how long or deeply he searched. He'd look at her eyes, nose, ears, mouth and even her forehead, and still have the same result. Physically, her dark hair was pretty much the only thing that set her apart from the blonde girl that Roxas met sometime ago in Twilight Town. And aside from that, there was her voice – Kairi's, technically – and her cheerful, warm personality. She was clearly a different person.<p>

Someone completely new to him.

_Well, she did give me sea-salt cream, _Roxas reminded himself. Yes, somehow, Xion knew Roxas liked sea-salt ice cream, but it could've been a coincidence. Though, her expression while she gave it to him hinted otherwise. Perhaps someone told her somehow. Naminé, maybe? They must've been related somehow, since they have the exact same face.

He groaned and put his face in his hands. This was going nowhere.

Xion took notice. "Something wrong, Roxas?"

"I can't remember anything," he answered.

"What's that mean?"

Roxas looked up. "I can't remember anything about you. My whole life was pretty much Hayner, Pence and Olette, until Sora and the Keyblade came along. You and Axel both say you've been friends with me sometime before, but I can't remember anything about it." He blinked. "Do you know Axel?"

Xion smiled nostalgically. "Yeah. I know him as well as I know you."

"That means... The three of us were friends, right? What happened? Why did I forget?"

The replica bit her lip. "...Well, there's me. I was forgotten by everyone. And then, things... went downhill for you. DiZ and Naminé had to awaken Sora, and your memories of the Organization were getting in the way of that, so they had you forget everything." She closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and sighed. "Axel was probably confused as to why you left all of a sudden, since he doesn't remember me. He and I missed you, Roxas."

Roxas shook his head, trying to piece this all together. He had to take these details one by one. "You... everyone forgot you, Xion? How?"

"It's a long story. Practically my whole life." Xion's hands clenched each other on her lap. Part of her was hoping that Roxas could see that she was uneasy, but another part of her was hoping that he didn't.

Roxas didn't see it. "You and I both have all the time in the world. And I have to know."

Xion hesitated, but she could see that Roxas meant it when he said that he had to know. She blinked and after carefully choosing where to start, slowly began, "Organization XIII, a group of thirteen Nobodies led by Xemnas, worked to complete Kingdom Hearts, something that would supposedly turn them into complete beings by giving each of them their own hearts. But without the Keyblade, no matter how many Heartless they slay, they wouldn't get any closer to their goal. Then they found you, Roxas. You were number thirteen, and a Keyblade wielder. With you around, they could finally get somewhere."

"Wait," Roxas interrupted. "So I get that I'm there, and now I know what I was doing with them, but how are you connected to all this?"

"It's a long story, remember?" Xion answered. "Let me continue. Organization XIII taught you how to use the Keyblade and told you that your purpose was to complete Kingdom Hearts so you could get a heart of your own. But apparently, you weren't enough."

"What does that mean?" Roxas had a hint of disapproval in his tone. Xion acted as if it wasn't there.

"The Organization started the Replica Program. They wanted to make a replica of the Keyblade weilder, Sora, and they created me out of his memories. But I was imperfect. Before I met you, I didn't have a face, or a voice. All I had was my purpose, and my number: _i._ Later on, I met Riku, a friend of Sora and Kairi's. He told me that my Keyblade wasn't real, and was just a copy. I had to choose between being with being with you and Axel, or returning to Sora."

"And you chose to return to Sora?"

Xion shook her head. "Not at first, but yeah, I did. I learned that I was stopping Naminé from restoring Sora's memories just by existing, since I was made out of them. As I time went by, I absorbed Sora's memories faster, and I became stronger by absorbing your power, Roxas. I didn't mean to, but that's how the Organization created me, so I had to put a stop to it. Before I could rejoin with Sora, Axel captured me and brought me back, and then Xemnas reprogrammed me. After that, we had to fight. Even If I was still stronger than you, I was beaten, and well, returned to Sora."

There was an awkward pause. Roxas had gotten every word memorized, and Xion just stared at nothing in particular, waiting for Roxas to say something.

"That's your life story?" he finally asked.

Xion shrugged. "That's the gist of it. Long story short, I put you in danger by living, and I had to kick the bucket to save you."

"Not too different from me," Roxas commented. "I had to go to Sora, too, since he needed to wake up."

Xion looked elsewhere. "Yeah, about that," Xion said quietly. "Well, it's kinda my fault, too."

"Huh?"

"When I was absorbed into Sora, some of the memories I took from him made their way into you, so you sorta went in the same position as me, except without the part where you absorb someone else's powers." She hummed a bit. "Sorry 'bout that."

"So you mean I could've continued existing if I hadn't taken those memories?" Roxas asked, his tone rising slightly.

Xion laughed nervously. "Yeah... yeah... yeah." She caught Roxas's fists clenching in anger._ Uh-oh. "_But hey! It's the Organization that made me, so it's not really anyone's fault."

His fists loosened. Xion sighed – this time, in relief. No one wants to lose their best friend over something out of their control.

"So, what do we do now?" Roxas asked.

Xion pulled a red, rectangular object from her pocket. "Use this thing."

Roxas took it. He opened it, finding two screens, one on the top and bottom. The lower screen had four buttons on one side, labeled A, B, X, and Y, while the other side featured an odd cross-shaped button. It looked familiar.

Xion gave him an odd look. "You do know what that is, right?"

"It's called a DS," Roxas answered. "What are you giving it to me for?"

When he looked, a wooden signpost had taken Xion's place. It must've been that ninja trick that he was told about in the kitchen. Knowing what to look for, he picked up the note sitting at the bottom of the sign.

_Dear Roxas,_

_That thing I gave you has your life story in it, believe it or not. Play through it, and ask questions later. Until we can find a better source of information, you'll have to rely on what I can remember and that game to fill out the holes in your memory. A majority of the answers can be found in the secret reports that you can unlock after the endgame, so try to get them. Don't ask me how your life story was turned into a game. I have absolutely no clue._

_Have fun._

_-Xion, duh_

_P.S. Sorry 'bout the spoilers. You said you had to know. Man, you're lucky you got your own game._

Roxas looked at the object in his hand. _My life story, huh? _He switched it on.

It seemed Xion was more than just a trickster.

* * *

><p>Ventus counted in a steady beat. "Forty-five, forty-six, Forty seven..."<p>

"You're doing _squats_ to pass the time?"

The blond looked at the boy lying comfortably on the bed, sparing a moment of his time to retort. "You're answering sudoku puzzles. How's that any better than squats?"

"For your much-needed information, solving puzzles like these improves critical thinking, creativity, attitude, and focus."

"So you admit that you're dull, uncreative and impatient," Ventus remarked. "I can see you're focused, since you haven't noticed that Xion's been holding a banana over your head for the past three minutes."

"I'm not – wait, what?" Repliku checked above to confirm what Ventus told him. Sure enough, a banana peel was being held up above his head by a certain other replica. It was pulled away.

"I ate it, too," Xion said. She took a space next to Repliku, ignoring his dismayed expression, and used him as a pillow. "It was kinda hard to eat it while holding it above your head."

"Why do you do these things to me?" Repliku asked the smirking girl.

"Your reactions do often please me, my friend," she answered. "Anyway, you guys seen Ciel anywhere? I've been trying to find the little rascal for..." She paused to check the clock. "...twenty minutes."

Repliku his puzzle book and left it on the bedside table. With her around, it didn't seem like he'd be able to continue. "Pretty ironic that you're calling him a rascal after all you've been doing," he commented. "But yeah, I haven't seen him around, either."

"Same here," Ventus said, sitting next to Repliku, forcing the three of them to be squeezed together on one bed. "We got him out of the duct tape, right?"

"Yeah, we did," Xion said. "All four of us helped, and it took quite a while, so I doubt anyone would forget so quickly."

"You think he stuck around to clean the kitchen up when we finished?" Ventus suggested.

"Knowing him, he probably would." Repliku made his way out of the space between his companions, making them fall and bump each other's heads. "I'm gonna go check. You two should do me a favor and stay here." With that, he left the room.

Ventus rubbed his head. "Am I the only one who heard coconuts when that happened?"

Xion mimicked Ventus. "Funny, I was about to ask you the exact same thing." She propped herself up. "So, Repliku's gone and looking for Ciel out in the kitchen, and Roxas is probably somewhere by himself doing whatever. What do we do now?"

"He told us to stay put." A smile grew on Ventus's face. "You know what that means."

"Loophole?"

"Bingo."

* * *

><p>"Hey Ciel!" Repliku called for his Heartless friend as he walked through the hallways, using his eyes, ears and nose to find Ciel. He was supposed to look in the kitchen, but he thought beforehand that he should be careful and look wherever he could.<p>

His sharp nose detected Roxas at a corner. "Roxas?" he called.

Roxas turned his head from the painting he was looking at. "Oh. Hey, Repliku. What's up?"

"You seen Ciel anywhere?"

"Nope," Roxas said, putting his hands in his pockets. "Haven't seen him since we got him out of the tape. Why?"

"We haven't seen him either," Repliku said. "Oh, and has the pizza arrived yet? It's been what, half an hour?"

They walked at the same pace toward the kitchen. "Not yet. Who makes the pizza anyway?"

Repliku paused in consideration. That was a good question. He knew that the laundry and dished took care of themselves, but the food was lazy, and had to be prepared by hand. "I've got no clue. Think Ciel might?"

"It depends," Roxas said. "Can he cook?"

Repliku chuckled. "Doubt it. Heartless don't eat normal food, do they?"

"No clue."

It didn't take them more than ten seconds to reach the kitchen. When Repliku opened the door, he and Roxas were greeted by an unwelcoming sight.

A wide puddle of red liquid stained the floor.

Roxas didn't quite know what to say. "Is that..."

"Hey, guys!" a cheerful voice called from nowhere. Ventus appeared in a puff of smoke on the other side of the room, drawing the pair's attention. Though they often used the kawarimi technique to get away from him, Repliku had never seen them use it to come to him. "Neat trick, huh? Whoa!" He pointed at the puddle. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Ven!" Repliku said. "Why are you here? I thought I told you to stay in my room!"

"Oh, Xion has something to say about that. Want me to go get her?"

"Yeah."

Ventus then did a number of hand signs – one of which resembled a shadow puppet butterfly – and vanished into another cloud of smoke. The cloud dissipated to reveal Xion, eating another banana. She raised a brow when she saw the confused stares she was being given, and muttered a closed-mouth "oh". Her hand gestured to the dissipating smoke as she swallowed.

"Don't worry, it's actually mist, not smoke," she explained. The stares did not disappear.

Roxas blinked. "Did Ventus just transform into you?"

"Did he – No! No way would he do that!" Xion tossed the banana peel into a nearby trash bin. "He just used me instead of a signpost."

Roxas's nod of understanding was accompanied by a silent "oh," while Repliku's stare turned into one of dissappointment, reinforced by foot taps and crossed arms.

"Why did you follow me even when I specifically told you to stay in my room?" he asked, a mild venom dripping from his voice.

"We did stay in your room," Xion said, "for about three seconds. Then we came here."

Repliku brought a hand to his forehead. "Look, when I said–"

"Hey, Xion," Roxas cut in, "do you know what that stuff on the floor is?"

Ventus then arrived in another puff, this time with a trenchcoat and a bubble pipe. "At first glance, it seems to be blood."

"Yikes," Roxas commented.

"_But_," Ventus continued, "we are not sure whose blood it is."

"Not to defeat the purpose of your coat and pipe, Ven, but that isn't blood." Xion squatted next to the mess. "If it were, then judging by the color, it's pretty fresh. But none of us have lost that much blood in the kitchen lately."

"What about Ciel?" Ventus asked. "What if there was some other guy that we don't know who came in here and attacked him?"

"Ciel's a Heartless," Xion said. "Have you ever seen a Heartless bleed?"

"Actually, I've never seen a Heartless before I met Ciel, but if they're anything like Unversed, then I see your point."

"So if it's not blood," Roxas said, "what is it?"

"Well, it smells kinda funny," Xion noted, "but I can't put my finger on it."

Repliku let out an exasperated sigh as Ventus, Xion and Roxas discussed the strange substance that stained the kitchen floor. His companions seemed to be rather dense, though it was probably just his sensitive nose that made him think that. He knew immediately what the puddle was made of when he cought its scent, but he didn't get an opportunity to tell them without a puff of smoke – _mist_, he corrected himself – appearing out of nowhere. He finally spoke, "It's tomato sauce, guys."

Ventus slapped his forehead in realization. "Of course! Tomato sauce! Brilliant! How did you know?"

"It smells like it, of course," Repliku answered.

"How do you know what tomato sauce smells like in the first place?" Xion asked.

"Forget that." Repliku waved the question off and looked around the kitchen. Besides the puddle, the whole place was spotless. Ciel must've cleaned it, but the tomato sauce still posed a question. "Why the heck is there tomato sauce on the floor, anyway? It's not like any of us can cook, right?"

"Maybe someone did try to attack Ciel," Roxas suggested, "but with a can of tomato sauce. He missed, and Ciel ran away."

"That just brings up more questions," Xion said. "Where would Ciel run to, if not to us? And that's _if _someone actually used a can of tomato sauce as a weapon."

"Agh, we're making such a big deal over this thing," Ventus said, in an unusual display of sense, "why don't we just clean it up and find him? Then we can ask him all the questions we want."

Xion considered it. "Alright. Seems like a good idea. Now where can we find a mop?"

* * *

><p>As they were cleaning, Roxas stopped to think aloud. "You guys think that someone tried to make pizza in here? People usually use tomato sauce for pizzas, after all."<p>

Ventus brought out his bubble pipe and made a laughable thinking face. "Hmm..."

* * *

><p>And here is where I answer a reviewer question. *pulls card from pocket*<p>

**Flightfoot: Why does Leon know everything? Kairi didn't.**

I'm glad you ponder such a thing, Flightfoot. In the original KH, Leon was the one who told Sora about the Keyblade and the Heartless. Since Team Sorta-Sora is in Sora's heart, the sticks and their respective personalities are affected by Sora's opinions of the characters. That's why Kairi seemed to be all about Sora in that chapter, because, there is evidence in canon that Sora likes Kairi and he hopes she returns his feelings. Leon seemed to know the important things, so naturally, Sora would think that Leon knows a lot of that kind of stuff, or is at least his go-to person. Hence, Leon knows stuff.

I haven't played the original, but I like to watch walkthoughs and read the wiki, along with TvTropes.

But wait! What about Yen-sid? He's smart, too! Well, Sora didn't know Yen-sid at the time.


	10. Nuke in a Pot

I'm alive! And I brought cake. Okay, I'm sorry this chapter took so long for me to cough up. See, I got sick, real bad a few days ago, and I had to stop producton for a while, and then, while sick in bed, I got some new ideas, thus making this chapter slightly longer. But in advance, I apologize for any possible quality deterioration.

Another possible factor could be the other two fics I'm making. One's a crossover, the other's AU, and both are long and more 'serious' than this one.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rubik's cube. Obviously, Rubik owns it.

Rubik = Riku + b = ?

* * *

><p><strong><em>Xion Gives Advice (It Works)<em>**

* * *

><p>After ten minutes of Repliku's incessant nagging and cleaning the kitchen up, Ventus, Xion and Roxas gathered into the living room to wait for the pizza. Repliku decided that, at the moment, he didn't want to be disturbed by any form of noise or faux ninjutsu, so at the soonest possible time, he snuck off to his room and proceeded to finish his sudoku puzzle book. The three didn't mind at all.<p>

Seeing that Xion and Ventus wanted to pass the time in the strangest ways imaginable (quoting movies, in this case), he made a _very _good decision.

"Xion!" Ventus's voice thundered through the halls, causing the tremble of a vase nearby. "Where's my Keyblade armor?"

"What?" Xion yelled in response. Though it seemed to be unnecessary since they were in the same room, the yelling was an important part of what they were doing.

"Where, is, my, Keyblade, _armor?_" Ventus bellowed. Roxas held his laughter in. These two and their faces were cracking him up, but they were so focused in their task that he would feel terrible after doing it. _Feel._

"I, uh, put it away!"

"_Where?"_

"_Why_ do you _need _to know?"

"I need it!"

"Uh-uh! Don't you think about runnin' off doin' no derrin'-do! We've been planning th... thi...thi... Bwafhahaha!" Xion burst into uncontrollable laughter and rolled on the bed, overcome by the absurdity of what she and Ven were saying. That, and yelling was rather fun. "Ahahaha! Oh man, I can't do it anymore... Hoo..."

Ventus tried to slow down his own laughter. "Okay... no more... of that..."

Roxas watched the two try to settle down. "You guys sounded ridiculous."

"H-Hey!" Ventus weakly said, dazed by laughing. "That's what you'd sound like if you tried it!"

"Yeah, _if_ I tried it. Anyway, is the pizza here yet? We've been waiting for two hours."

"Oh yeah, the pizza!" Ventus sprang up. "I was so wrapped up in our time-killer that I forgot about it!"

Xion breathed deeply, calming herself. "That's not the only thing you forgot."

"Yeah?" Ventus challenged.

"We still haven't found Ciel," Xion reminded them.

"I'm sure he's fine," Roxas said. "He knows where to find us."

At that moment, the doorbell's ding-dong resounded into the room that the trio were lounging in. "If that's Ciel, I'm giving Roxas ten munny," Xion casually commented.

"It can only be Ciel, so have your munny pouch ready," Roxas hopped over to the front door, which, due to the 'architecture' of the station, was on the ceiling. He pressed a switch to slide it open, revealing a humanoid Heartless with a physical resemblance to Sora.

"Hey, Ciel," Ventus greeted from the sofa. "Where have you been? It's been hours."

"I went to check on the pizza," Ciel answered. Roxas gestured for him to enter. The Heartless shrunk to Shadow size and scampered down the stairs and next to Xion, resting his head on her lap. The black-haired replica took it as a silent request to scratch his head, and she warmly obliged.

"Y'know, darkness is fluffy," she off-handedly stated.

Ignoring Xion's statement, Ventus crouched over to the Shadow to inquire futher. "So, I hear you checked on the pizza."

Ciel's answer was soft, but not too much so. "Yup."

"Do you know anything about the tomato sauce in the kitchen?"

Ciel's antenna twitched. "Tomato sauce?"

"Yeah," Ventus said. "We figured it would be about pizza in some way or another, since there's tomato sauce on pizza."

"Well, I didn't know – "

The _ding-dong _of the door bell cut Ciel's sentence, as well as Roxas's "I'll get it!"

"If it's not Ciel, I'm giving you twenty more munny!" Xion announced.

The young Nobody slid the door open, revealing a young man with a thick build, whose face was obscured by some kind of black helmet. He wore a black and red bodysuit with some kind of skirt-thing strapped over it. Roxas was slighty intimidated, and tensed preparing himself for a fight that may ensue.

"Nice to see you again, Ventus," he said. His voice was somewhat deep and sinister, as well as slightly familiar.

Roxas blinked in confusion, shortly forgetting his battle-readiness. "I'm not Ventus."

"You're not?" The masked boy chuckled. "So then who are you? You look too much like him to be somebody else."

"I'm a Nobody," Roxas said.

"_Ventus's?"_ the boy guessed. "He can't have a Nobody."

"Sora's," Roxas answered back.

"Hey, Roxas!" Xion called, joining him at the door. "So who've we got – Whoa." She examined him. "Another dude in a man-skirt. Is it a fad now or what?"

The masked boy took cautious a step back, as if shocked by what he saw. "What? Two Venti?" He found it odd that one would sound like a girl.

"Venti?" Xion said. "What's a Venti?"

"The plural form of Ventus," the boy said. Roxas and Xion blinked, not quite grasping his point. He sighed. "You know, like octopus and octopi?" The duo's expression's remained clueless. "Come on. It's simple verbal communication. How could you not know this?" The duo were silent, and if he could read their minds, he would see a nauseatingly realistic picture of an unamused crab. "Never mind."

"If it's so simple, why don't we know about it?" Roxas asked.

The masked boy shook his head. "Drop the subject, man, just drop it."

"Actually, I understood what he said after the word plural," Xion said, "but I've wanted to look at someone that way for a long time. I take it you need to see Ven?" She pointed behind her with her thumb. "He's in there with the Shadow. Say, you look kinda familiar."

"Somebody called?" Ventus jumped into the crowd of three and spontaneously wrung his arms over the Roxas and Xion's necks. He took note of the boy at the door. "Oh, hey, Vanitas."

"Vanitas!" Xion suddenly said, snapping her fingers. "I remember now! It's a surprise seeing you around here! We're having pizza. Wanna join us?"

"You're offering a stranger pizza?" Roxas asked disbelievingly.

"I don't see why not."

"Three of them?" uttered the confused boy, mostly to himself. "How?"

"Oh, right, he's clueless." Xion extended her hand. "Name's Xion. With an X. Also known as 'No. _i,'_ But i don't wanna use that name. Roxas, go introduce yourself."

"I'm Roxas," he said, "Sora's Nobody. Due to reasons extremely convoluted, I look like Ven. And Sora. It's complicated."

At that point, the second Ventus began to take another form to the boy – a girl with short black hair. That certainly made more sense than a Ventus with a girl's voice. Now, as to why he saw her like that, he had no idea.

"You know, you can take your mask off now," Ventus said. "We all know what you look like. except Roxas. He's new here."

"Why are you guys being so friendly to me?" Vanitas asked. "Didn't I try to kill you?"

"Just me," Ventus said. "And you failed. So I'm clearly the superior one. There's no reason for me to treat you badly. And besides, you can't use your Keyblade here."

"I put your friends in danger," Vanitas reminded him. "Still okay with me?"

"Hey, I can't do anything about that," Ventus reasoned. "So I thought we'd call it a truce for now."

Vanitas sighed. "Okay, then, a truce."

"Good. Now take the mask off. The air in here isn't toxic."

The rounded surface of Vanitas's helmet melted off, slowly giving hints of what his face looked like until it was clear to the three that his face and hair were just like Sora's, only the eyes were yellow instead of blue, and the golden brown was replaced with a nighttime black. As far as expressions went, Vanitas's were much darker and intimidating, which posed quite a distiction from Sora's bright ones.

Thesight was somehow innerving to Roxas, who inched back a bit. "Whoa, dude, that is creepy."

Vanitas was unamused. "The melting helmet or the face?"

"The face," Roxas answered. "I'm pretty sure faces like yours are supposed to be nice and happy, not evil and brooding."

"I could say the samething about you," Vanitas said. "I guess it won't be that hard telling you and Ventus apart."

"But I'm not evil!" Roxas retorted.

"You're still a lot less happy go lucky than Sora. Hardly any difference."

"Okay, that's abough out of you two." Xion said, waving a hand between their faces. "Back to the more important matter, do you have pizza, by any chance?"

"What?" Ventus suddenly yelled. "Why would Vanitas have – "

"Oh yeah," Vanitas muttered, cutting Ventus off. "I do, actually. Made 'em myself."

"How many?" Xion eagerly asked.

"I made three, but I could've made a fourth if Ciel hadn't spilled the sauce." Vanitas opened a dark corridor. "Meet me in the kitchen." He stepped in and closed it.

"To the kitchen!" Ventus ran back inside on his own.

Roxas stuck around, as well as Xion. He held his palm out. "So, where's the munny?"

"Here's the thirty I owe ya." Xion dumped a gold orb in Roxas's palm. "What are you gonna use it for?"

"...Oh."

Xion took a bow and walked away victoriously.

* * *

><p>All of Roxas's suspicion of Vanitas seemed to just fly away someplace after he saw, smelled, and tasted the pizzas he made. The thickness of the cheese varied across the surface on just the right spots, where the pepperoni's spice would even the flavor. The tomato sauce, despite being mostly uderneath the rest of the ingredients, seemed to top off the perfect flavor. It didn't matter to him that they could've been poisoned.<p>

And as a bonus, Ciel and Ventus even persuaded him to make a few more. And now they had the opportunity to watch how such a blessing came upon them.

Well, at the moment, it was just Roxas. Xion had to check something in her room, which, everyone knew, had evolved from a regular hotel suite to a bizarre, white laboratory. Repliku accompanied her out of worry for his rubik's cube, which he had left in her room for reasons unknown. Ciel accidentally used too much hot sauce on a slice he was eating, and ran away in a panic. Only Vanitas accompanied Roxas, so besides the eating noises, and the stirring sounds, it was pretty quiet.

It seemed Vanitas was making _something_, but it didn't seem like it was for the pizza. Roxas felt compelled to ask. "What are you making?"

"Spaghetti sauce," Vanitas said with a shrug. "My style."

"Okay." It was only then that Roxas realized how awkward Vanitas looked wearing an apron over a skin-tight suit like his. "Do you know how weird you look right now?"

In reply, Vanitas's helmet solidified, and he continued to cut various meats in a professional manner.

_Okay, I'll stop talking, _Roxas thought. He continued to watch Vanitas cook, seeing him take another can of tomato sauce from the counter.

Vanitas shook it, finding that it was a little more heavy than usual, though the cover was already opened, suggesting that it had already been used. He shrugged and poured it into the pot anyway.

And he immediately regretted it. The instant the red liquid made contact with the mixture, the sauces began to swirl by themselves, and they bubbled furiously, releasing puffs of steam that took the shape of a skull and crossbones. Vanitas quickly lidded the pot, stepping away as it toiled and troubled on its own.

Roxas, too, inched away from the pot after stashing the pizzas in a safe corner. He sniffed the air for disturbances, finding a faint scent that he considered a poisonous stink. He pulled part of his shirt up to cover his nose. "What's that smell?"

A sniffing sound was heard through Vanitas's mask. "I don't smell anything."

"You're wearing a mask."

"Oh. Right." Vanitas considered deactivating the mask, then changed his mind. "Y'know, I don't really wanna smell what you're smelling anyway."

"Fine."

The pot's rumbling slowed until it rested on the stove like regular cookware. Roxas deemed it safe to return to his seat, but to the blond's surprise, Vanitas didn't move. The blond just stared for a moment, pondering his stillness, but his thought was interrupted by the grumble of the pot. The lid flew off and landed right on Vanitas's helmet, landing on the floor with a clang that made Roxas jump. The boy in black wasn't fazed.

"Did that hurt?" Roxas asked out of curiosity.

"Nah." Vanitas calmly put the lid back on. At the same time, the kitchen door swung open, allowing Repliku and Xion to step in.

"Hey guys, we're back!" Repliku said, cube in hand. "Apparently, Xion broke it twi – Ugh!" His hand flew to his nose while his face wrinkled in disgust. "What is the smell?"

"I don't smell anything," Roxas said. "I used to, but it faded."

Repliku looked at Vanitas accusingly. "It smells like... agh, Xion!"

"Huh?" Xion responded.

"It smells like Xion?" Vanitas said.

"No!" Repliku turned back to his fellow replica. "Xion, go describe a smell for me!"

"Say what?"

"A _bad_ smell. Go describe one."

"Oh. Okay, let's see." Xion paused in thought. "It smells like someone brought a farting goat in with a cart full of old laundry, killed it with a knife made of hard, spoiled cheese, and put its bleeding corpse on display over a pile of onions and garlic."

"Exactly," Repliku approved.

"But I don't smell a thing," Xion added with a smile.

Repliku pointed at the pot. "Whatever, get that poison out of here. Why does it even smell like that?"

"Vanitas poured some kind of red thing in the pot, and it threw a tantrum," Roxas explained.

"Oh!" Xion suddenly began to laugh in an embarrased manner. "Was it heavy? The thing you poured."

"Sorta," Vanitas said.

"Did it come from a can?"

"Yeah." Vanitas looked at the can from which the substance came from. "Why?"

She began to slip her Organization gloves on. "Well, in one of my tests – "

"Oh no..." A feeling of deep dread fell over Repliku.

" – in one of my tests, I tried to create a recipe for a Meteor spell panel, so I needed to make some liquid ankharite."

Repliku elbowed Xion in the gut. "You put _liquid ankharite _in the kitchen? Don't you know how dangerous ankharite is?"

"Ouch..." Xion rubbed her abused abdomen. "Well, it was safe while no one could cook." She turned to Vanitas. "I'm not blaming you, Van."

Vanitas shrugged. "I wouldn't really care."

"How did you even make it a liquid in the first place?" Repliku demanded.

"I just needed some darkness, some light, and a neodymium-doped yttrium crystal for energy. But my room blew up three times in the process. Ankharite is some really dangerous stuff," Xion said, as if it were just another thing in her life. Which it was, for them.

"And yet you play with it." Repliku shook his head like a disappointed father. "You should know better than that, Xion."

"Yeah, well, I was bored." Xion quickly stood over the metal pot. "Lemme see that mixture."

The strange substance in the pot glowed with a hot red aura, and the steam that rose from it seemed to spiral around, probably thanks to the sheer destructive radiation of the ankharite. The soup bubbled and churned angrily, and the smell that Repliku was complaining about was finally noticeable to Xion. Besides that, it looked like regular spaghetti sauce, only a bit more spicy.

Roxas came beside her and joined her examination. "Wow. That doesn't look edible anymore."

"We gotta get this thing out of here, guys," Xion decided.

"How?" Repliku asked. "Everything is Sora's heart is closed in. There's nowhere to put it without blowing something up."

"Well, have you tried dropping it off the top?" Vanitas suggested.

"That seems like a sensible solution," Xion said.

"What if it destroys Sora's heart in the process?" Repliku asked.

"Then we'll throw it really, really far away," Roxas answered.

"And who will throw it so far?" Repliku asked.

"I can build a pot thrower," Xion said. "Just gimme five – "

"No gadgets, Xion," Repliku and Roxas said in unison. They then gave each other disturbed glances.

"Okay," Xion conceded. "Maybe... we can whack it across?"

"I'm good with whacking it," Roxas agreed. He felt that hitting things could solve problems sometimes, though he didn't know where the feeling came from.

"Okay, so here's the plan," Xion started. "We transfer the deadly sauce into a tight, solid container, bring it to the top of the station, then we make Roxas whack it with... something. As long as it's not a stick."

"Aw, man!" Roxas whined.

"Okay, so I'll bring the pot up," Vanitas said. "You guys'll have to bring the container up yourselves." He silenty lifted the pot off the stove and used a dark corridor to go up to the top of the station. It beat the stairs, anyway.

"Okay, see ya!" Xion turned to the other two. "Roxas, you go find something to whack the sauce with. Repliku, go find Ven and Ciel."

Roxas and Repliku found no problem with their tasks, so they nodded simultaneously, and then gave each other disturbed looks once again. Repliku awkwardly turned away and opened a dark corridor as Roxas watched with interest. Xion then opened one of her own, and was about to step in.

"Hold on," Roxas said.

Xion stopped mid-step. "What's up?"

"I, uh, played the game you told me to play," he said, with a hint of hesitation. The topic was sensitive, at least, to him.

"Oh," Xion muttered, and retracted her foot from the dark corridor, closing it after. She didn't quite know what to say, even if she was the one who told him to play in the first place. "So, do you remember anything about me?" She doubted it.

"N-No, but... I am learning about you. I'm trying to remember, really. It's just kinda hard to feel what I felt back there when it's just a screen, you know? There are so many missing things, and..." His voice trailed off while his gaze lingered away from his companion.

Xion sensed his uneasiness and decided to lighten the mood a bit. "Yeah, I know, right? Man, the screen is so tiny. And all they got are text boxes. At least you can imagined their voices. But hey, it's what they got. What can you do?"

It seemed to work. "Haha, yeah. But, anyway, besides that..." He scratched his head to calm himself. He still didn't know how to act around her. "Well, you know those dark portal things you guys create?"

"The dark corridors?" Xion opened one up. "Are these what you meant?"

"Yeah. In the game, I could make those, but – " He held a hand out and tried to make one, but he merely shifted the air. "Well, I can't now. So I was gonna ask..." He scratched his head again.

"Sure, I can teach you," Xion said. "But not now."

Roxas smiled. "Uh, thanks!"

Xion made a motion to step inside, but paused again mid-step. "Why don't you come with me? To get an idea of what it's like?"

Roxas crossed his arms. "Aren't there side effects to that or something? It already looks pretty... sinister."

"Side ef – Oh. Right. Too much exposure to the darkness is... not healthy. I forgot. Thanks for reminding me." She paused, debating something in her mind. "Roxas, do you have a heart?"

"I...I dunno," he answered. "I can't... just look inside. But I – "

"Okay, that's enough," Xion said. She's heard it all before. "I'm not sure if you do, Roxas, but I don't want to put you in danger of the darkness just for some portal."

"But what about you?"

"I guess I've exposed myself to it a couple times," she nonchalantly supposed, hiding her worry. "But I haven't see anything worth worry happen to me, so it's okay... For now. I hope."

Roxas still worried, though. "Are you still gonna use it?"

Xion chuckled lightly to herself. "I don't know if I even _have_ a heart yet, Roxas. I mean, I figured; if Vexen could create artificial hearts, then why go through the trouble of helping the rest of the Organization?"

"Yeah... You're right." Roxas remembered their other replica friend. "What about Repliku? He says he has a heart."

"We don't know if he does or if it's just another mistake." Xion thought he did. He was pretty emotional sometimes. "But he could probably keep it under control anyways. Or so his ego says."

"Alright," Roxas said. "Teach me anyway. Just lend me your coat when I need it."

"Can do," Xion agreed. "I'm gonna go in one more time. Just once couldn't hurt, right?" She took Roxas's shrug as an approval and walked in, closing it behind her.

Roxas watched the darkness dissipate. He dropped the thought of Xion being in danger for a moment, and looked around the room. "The kitchen might have a few things to whack pots with."

* * *

><p>Vanitas tapped his foot impatiently. Why, they seemed to be somewhat late. Okay, not just somewhat – make it <em>very<em> late. Vanitas had already stolen Xion's Organization coat in the meantime, put it on, and then learned that it conveniently changed the size and shape to fit the one wearing it. Now, he was just watching the spiral of steam rise from the pot, which was just about the most exciting thing he'd done in the past three minutes.

He'd stared at it for so long that it had almost become hypnotic, and if it weren't for his awareness, he wouldn't have noticed the new company that decided to silently join him.

"So..." Vanitas casually began. "You're a Heartless."

"Yep," replied the Shadow. "And you are a...?"

"I'm..." Vanitas never really thought about that. He just knew he was 'Vanitas', and that's all he thought about, in his whole life. It never occurred to him that he could've been something along the league of a Heartless. But he had a heart, and he never really 'succumbed' to the darkness. Rather, the darkness succumbed to him. He shrugged. "...a different kind of person, I guess."

"I see," said the Shadow. Vanitas chuckled at his voice. Which one – his own or the Shadow's? There was no difference. That's why he chuckled. "Your name?"

"Vanitas," he said with a shrug. "You?"

"Ciel," answered the Shadow. A hint of embarrassment was evident in his voice. "They named me."

"I could tell," Vanitas said. "I don't think Heartless normally have names."

"Abominations like us aren't meant to have names," Ciel said softly. "I somehow got a sense of humanity. Guess Sora's that special."

Vanitas smirked. "I can't take you seriously with that form. Change into a human, like I saw you do in the kitchen."

The Heartless obeyed and surrounded himself with wisps of darkness to shift into a humanoid Heartless. By the time he finished, he seemed to be about the same size as Vanitas, but he wore a tattered black cloak, wearing the hood in such a way that his eyes were hidden. Vanitas couldn't tell if he made gloves or not, but from the look of the lower part of Ciel's face, his skin was nearly as black as the cloak, just a bit grayer. "This is as close to human as I can get."

"What happened to the awesome spiky hair?"

Ciel pulled his hood off, revealing that a hairstyle identical to Vanitas's can somehow stay compressed under a hood. He wasn't surprised; his helmet had a similar job.

"You only say it's awesome because you have it," Ciel pointed out.

"My hair is so awesome that the hero of worlds eventually grows into it."

Ciel laughed. What Vanitas said was true, so he couldn't argue about that.

"Hey, guys!"

The voice came from behind them. Vanitas and Ciel turned their heads, to find Xion, Repliku, and Ven come out of the door. Xion had some sort of steel cylinder in her arms, which Vanitas assumed was the container she mentioned before coming here. It looked like it could survive being thrown off a cliff, and it was clearly heavy, seeing as Xion stumbled around as she walked.

"Hey," Vanitas said. He pointed at the cylinder. "That's the thing for the sauce, right? We're gonna put it in there?"

Xion set it down with a heavy thud that made the floor rumble. It was a wonder she could carry it. Catching her breath, she answered, "Yeah... this is.. the thing..." She collapsed onto the floor with a tired sigh.

Vanitas calmly walked to the cylinder in order to inspect it. The design was simple; just a can with a lid locked in place by a series of latches and clamps. He tried lifting it. It seemed to be about three times heavier than the pot of sauce, a little taller than the pot, and it was still empty. Again, he wondered how she could carry it around. Sending it off the roof by whacking it would be a feat that Vanitas doubted was possible.

"So, guys, how's this gonna go down?" he asked.

Xion raised an index finger. "Ven, Repliku, could you tell him?"

Ventus shrugged. "Okay." He joined Vanitas next to the container, and examined the various locks and latches. "So, we're supposed to get this thing open and pour that stuff – " He pointed at the pot. " – into it. Then Roxas is gonna knock it off the station."

"That's it?" Vanitas thought the plan was a bit simple.

"Yeah, of course," Ventus said. "What did you think we were gonna do?"

"Well, I thought since it was so heavy, we would have some sort of thing lift it. I can't toss the thing up."

"We'll figure something out. Now lets get started."

Ventus fumbled around the locks, trying to figure out how to open them. It took three minutes of strange metallic noises for Xion to walk over and assist him. It took twenty seconds for her to realize that she forgot how to do it, and ask Repliku to get the instruction manual for the container. When he returned, he realized that they were in the wrong language, and promptly went back to find the right one. Once they finished, Vanitas told them that they took exactly seven minutes, sixteen seconds just to get the container open.

Vanitas then took the pot and carefully poured the contents out of the pot, being extra careful not to spill any on himself. Such a mistake would destroy everything in sight or possibly give Sora a stomach ache. Once they finished, they closed it up tightly, this time taking only two minutes.

Repliku gazed at their finished work, which didn't look any different from when they started out. "Now what?"

"Now," Xion started, "we wait for Roxas to come out."

"Why don't we just push it off the edge?" Vanitas asked. Before he could get his answer, the door opened, revealing Roxas, who held a metal bar in one hand.

"Sorry I'm late!" he said, thinking it sufficed as a greeting. "I got lost. Again."

"No prob, Roxas," Xion told him. "Now go whack the thing."

"Gotcha." The young Nobody positioned himself next to the container, holding the bar like one would with a golf club. He tapped it a few times, and swung –

– only to cause his arms to comically vibrate over the impact, slighty dazing himself.

Repliku scoffed. "I knew that wouldn't work."

"It looks like it hurt Roxas more than it did the thing," Ciel said.

"What's your next plan, o brilliant leader?" Vanitas asked the smaller Replica.

Xion hummed in thought. "When in doubt... give it a good smack?"

"What?" Repliku went so far as to take a step back in surprise. Everyone but him thought it was a bit of an exaggeration. "We just did that! And it failed! Epicly!"

"Yeah, duh, he hit it with a stick, which I told him not to," Xion answered. "We need something more sturdy. ...Like a Keyblade."

"We can't use Keyblades," Ventus said, the umbrella situation in mind. "Last time we tried, we used umbrellas."

"True," Xion admitted.

"We'll maybe you guys can use them," Ciel said. "Back then, Roxas was using the Keyblade, and he didn't know how to use Xion's yet, so there was no way you could access them."

Vanitas crossed his arms. "So what you're saying is that we can use a Keyblade as long as Sora's not?"

"It's a possibility." Ciel shrugged. "I say we give it a try."

"It works."

Five heads turned to Roxas, who waved a curved purple Keyblade around to show everyone.

"I don't know what kind of Keyblade this is, but it's a Keyblade."

"Hey, I've seen that one before!" Ventus rushed over like an excited five-year old and looked at the Keyblade. "This is the one Mickey used whe he saved me. Remember that, Vanitas?"

"I'd rather not, thanks."

Ventus pretended he never brought it up. "Anyway, I think it's called the Star Seeker."

Roxas then voiced what everyone else in the area was thinking, "Who's Mickey?"

"He's a Keyblade wielder, like me."

"I knew that." Roxas held the Keyblade up. "You already told us he used this thing, so obviously he had one."

Ventus saw his point. "Well, that's all I knew about him. I hardly saw him again after that, and we didn't talk much."

Vanitas stepped between them, "Okay, okay, that's not important. Roxas, just go whack the thing so we can get this over with."

"Alright, alright." Roxas once again positioned himsef next to the container, bending a little lower due to the Star Seeker's shortness compared to the steel bar. He pulled it back and swung as hard as he could.

Surprisingly, the container flew quite a distance away, and eventually disappeared into the murk of the water. The six of them walked over to the edge of the station to watch it.

Roxas squinted, trying to find any final hint of the container, and then gave up. "...Now what?"

"Look up there, Roxas." Xion pointed upwards.

The container was sinking down the same way everyone else did when they arrived.

The six of them silenty watch the metal container gracefully land onto the stained glass of the station.

"So we _can't _rid of it?" Ciel asked.

Vanitas stepped behind him. "Only one way to find out." Without warning or hesitation, he put his hands on Ventus's back and quickly pushed him off the edge, all while keeping a bored face.

"Ven!" Repliku made a motion to jump and get Ventus, but Xion held him back. After a moment of eye contact, she let go and looked up to where the metal container was found.

And there was Ven, sinking along the same path as the container. He looked half-asleep, and began to fall head-first downwards. The other five winced as his head collided with the container's thick, steel lid.

"Ouch," Vanitas commented, watching Ventus rub his head.

"Well, that confirms it," Ciel said, rather boredly. It was understandable, since, as a Heartless, he had no emotions to empathize with. "We can't get rid of the spaghetti sauce."

"That's just wonderful," Repliku said. "What do we do with it? It's pretty much a nuke made of meat and tomatoes."

"I have an idea," Xion said, "but I gotta ask the expert first. Ciel, if we break the glass on the sides, will there be any damage to Sora's heart?"

"Yes, and any damage to a heart, no matter how minimal, had a possibility of being fatal," Ciel said, taking the tone of a strict doctor.

"Okay, the idea's a bust." Xion approached the container. "We'll just have to stash it at the bottom of the station."

"That's boring," Vanitas commented.

"Yes, it's snore-inducing, but it's effective. Now how will I pick it up?"

"You don't have to," Vanitas said. He faced his palm to the container and engulfed it in darkness, sending it to the lowest floor of the station, and far away from them.

"That was boring, too, but effective," Xion said, nodding. "...I never want the solutions to be like that ever again."

"Speaking of stuff that isn't boring," Ventus chirped, "wanna go jump off a cliff?"

"I think I'll pass," Repliku answered, only to get his arm in an iron grip.

"You change your mind," Vanitas told him. "Let's jump."

Led by a guy in a man-skirt and a reluctant pretty-boy, the group of six ran to the edge of the cliff and jumped. One wore a goofy grin, one smirked, one pretended to disapprove, two shared identical smiles, and the last of them was beginning to change his mind about jumping. Either way, they'd all end up in the same place.

At least, that's what they thought. What actually happened was far different.

* * *

><p>The plot thickens! No, not really. So, was that any good at all?<p>

Oh, and another thing. I have nine days of summer vacation left. That means that soon, things are gonna slow down. Luckily, I have those other two stories, and whatever comes into mind.

I can't keep up the every-ten-days schedule, but I'll see if I could make it fifteen days or something. Depends on the length.

Thanks once again for your continued support.


	11. Play Cards, Ride Choppers

I'm alive! And I'm hyped up with alive juice! And, I deeply apologize for taking so long with this chapter. You see, there were these tow massive stories I was working on, like I mentioned sometime earlier, and then there's ANOTHER one that popped into my head just a few days ago. I want them BIG, so I was working on them. Plus, schoolwork and the much-needed fandom research that is necessary for any and evey fanfic writer to do before writing a fanfic.

And then my sister popped by and asked me about this. Now, I have her to deal with.

Hopefully, this chapter is satisfying enough for you. Oh, boy... *eats cookies madly in anxiety*

* * *

><p><em><strong>Vanitas Fights a Polar Bear<strong>_

* * *

><p>Ciel slowly blinked, adjusting to the lighting of the room as he woke up. Judging by the steel dome above him, he was in the Holo-room, a room he familiarized himself with during the sparring sessions he had with Ventus, Xion, and Repliku. Those were mostly done to make sure they don't get out of shape, or in Ventus's case, to get back in shape after a decade of videos games and frozen dinner. He had yet to learn how the illusions in the room solidified, but perhaps he was never meant to know in the first place.<p>

He propped himself up, and looked around the room while trying to figure out how he got there in the first place. Besides the featureless steel floor and the dome that occasionally vanished with the right programming, he found Ventus and Vanitas, who, with him, formed a sort of triangle in the room. His instincts told him to approach Vanitas first, and he agreed with them thoughtessly. Morphing back to his Shadow form from his Sora form, he sunk into the floor and fluidly slid to the black-haired boy, shaking his shoulder with his small hand to wake him up.

"Hey Van," Ciel urged, sounding somewhat like a little child. "Wake up. Wake up, Van."

Vanitas grumbled, and raised his hand slightly, and gripped Star Seeker half a second later, pointing it at Ciel. Ciel's fear of the Keyblade made him jump away in shock. Vanitas grumbled again. "Five more minutes," he said, though it sounded like a demand to Ciel.

Ciel agreed silently, and crept to Ventus, who he hoped would not have a reaction like Vanitas's. He began waking him him up by poking his head, causing Ventus to roll over. Ciel moved to shake Ventus's shoulder, which resulted in another roll from the sleeping blond. Ciel sighed. He wanted to avoid the method he was about to use, but he was already a little disturbed at it was. He positioned his head over Ventus, and began to hiss in the most annoying way a Shadow could manage. Ventus grumbled slightly, and opened his eyes slowly.

As Ventus's vision cleared, the image of a pitch-black face with bright yellow eyes came to be clearer, terrifying him enough to send him somewhere not-too-far away in a puff of steam, yelling. By the time the steam cleared, Ciel found Ventus backed into a wall, breathing slowly.

The blond blinked. "Oh, it's just you," he said over a sigh of relief. "Man, don't scare me like that. Those eyes are creepy."

Ciel held his hands up. "Sorry. Anyway, could you go help me wake Van up? He's asleep over there."

"Vanitas? Alright." Ventus ran to the sleeping boy, with Ciel sliding to follow him. He found that Vanitas was still wearing Xion's organization coat. Shrugging it off, despite the fact that it slightly disturbed him, he laid a hand on Vanitas's shoulder, and began to shake him vigorously. "Vanitas, wake up, man. Va-ni-tas."

Vanitas didn't do as much as budge an inch.

"I hope this won't be much harder than waking Xion up," Ventus thought aloud.

"What happened?" Ciel asked.

"Megaphones and radios. Don't ask."

The task of waking Vanitas up would be troublesome at the least.

* * *

><p>Repliku grumbled for the fifth time, hoping it would be enough to get Xion's head off his shoulder, or Roxas off hers. Once they'd woken up, he'd ask them how in the worlds they ended up in an elevator after jumping off the Station of Serenity. Or at least, he'd reprimand them for even trying it. He grumbled again, but not in an attempt to wake them up. <em>I knew that something was gonna happen, <em>he thought to himself.

Strangely, he wasn't able to move his limbs since he woke up. Whether it was the jump or Xion's head – which he thought might as well be radioactive, what with all the crazy things she and Ven have done – he didn't know. Repliku hoped he was just extremely lazy. Maybe if he tried again...

Repliku tried wiggling his shoulder to rouse Xion up. Shoulder wiggling worked, waking Xion didn't. Well, at least he could move now.

He took his hand and flicked Xion's forehead with it. It didn't work, just as expected. Shrugging, he stood up, allowing Xion's head to fall with a thud on the floor, waking her up.

"Ow..." she mumbled groggily, rubbing her head where it landed. "Thanks for the creative wake-up, Repliku."

"My pleasure," Repliku said, sarcasm on full display. He wasted no time in pressing a button on the elevator controls, leading them upward. The number on the digital display above the door rose at a steady rate, showing that they were, in fact, going up.

"How did we end up in an elevator?" Xion asked as she poked Roxas's head. Roxas groaned in response and shooed Xion's hand away like he would an annoying insect.

"We jumped off the roof, that's how," Repliku answered. "I knew it was a bad idea, but you guys insisted. And look where we are now."

"Actually, I think this is kinda interesting," Xion muttered.

"Say what? What do you mean by 'this'? Roxas?"

"Gmah?" Roxas propped himself up. "Someone say somethin'?"

Xion ruffled his hair. "Hey, g'morning, Roxas! And to answer your question, Repliku, no, it's not Roxas. I've had a lifetime's worth of him already." Roxas raised a brow. "Just kidding."

"So then what is it?"

"Who cares? Right now, I need you to go find Vanitas and get my coat back. I need it."

"How many floors does this thing have?" Repliku asked, watching the numbers. "Yeah, sure, I'll go get Vanitas, but I can't if we can't figure out what floor he's in. We'd have to look through all of them again."

"No," Xion said simply. She created a dark corridor in front of Repliku. "Now he should be on the other side. Go get 'im."

"Why me?"Repliku complained.

"You agreed to do it," Xion said. "And I need my coat to go through these things safely, what with the darkness and everything."

"And what makes you think I can handle it?" Repliku challenged.

Xion paused, and a smirk slowly grew on her face. "Your man-skirt. It's a darkness thing, isn't it?"

"Oh, so that's it, huh? You think I can handle the darkness when the real Riku needed to go around in a blindfold to do it?"

"Yeah," she answered bluntly.

Repliku raised a brow. Xion countered it with a brow raise of her own, backed up by a smirk. Repliku squinted and crossed his arms in response, sharpening his glare. Xion merely turned her smirk into a cocky grin, turning her head a certain degree to taunt him. Roxas merely watched with interest.

For once, Repliku won their silent duel of expressions. "Okay," he said, satisfied with himself. "Why do you think I can handle darkness?"

"Because you were made to mess with people's heads!" Xion answered happily, as if her defeat were a mere slap on the wrist. "But frankly, I think I do your job better than you do."

Repliku paused, missing a comeback for whatever incomprehensible reasoning Xion had just come up with. "...Okay, but then why can't you just do your ninja-poof thing and find Vanitas?"

"Because they don't have the same rules. Now stop asking pointless questions and get into that portal." Without hesitation, Xion shoved Repliku into the corridor and closed it.

Roxas yawned. "So what was that about?"

"I'm gonna teach you how to make dark corridors."

"Isn't that like teaching me how to do evil?" Roxas asked. "I mean, I know I asked for it, but it still seems to reek of evil and darkness."

"Hey, good people can do evil things for good reason. Like Naminé. She does evil things to help you."

"Ending my life was meant to help me?"

Xion shook her head. "No, it was meant to save humanity by waking Sora up. She destroyed you – evil – and saved the hero dude – good. Now, when Repliku gets back with my coat, we'll get things started."

"Uh, okay," Roxas agreed, lacking anything more to add on the subject.

"Sweet! While waiting, let's play a card game." Xion pulled a deck of cards from her pocket and began to shuffle.

* * *

><p>"Ven. Ven, stop poking him. Ven."<p>

Repliku repeated Ventus's nickname in hopes of getting him to stop poking Vanitas's head with Star Seeker. The young replica had been forcefully sent here by Xion to retrieve her coat, neglecting to give him any sensible reason for doing such a thing while they were in an elevator. Upon his arrival, he found an unconscious Vanitas and a bored Ventus, who decided to entertain himself by poking Vanitas's head with a Keyblade, probably trying to wake him up. Ciel merely watched. Now, Repliku would've returned to Xion with her coat if it weren't for the fact that Vanitas had it on while he was asleep. Something about taking a coat off of Vanitas while he slept disturbed him, which is why he watched Ventus try to wake the boy himself. Sadly, Ventus didn't have any good ideas.

"Ven, I really think you should listen to Repliku," Ciel said, worried. "What if Vanitas turns on you?"

"We'll win, duh," Ventus answered, lightly hammering the sleeping boy's head. "It'd be five-on-one, so we'd easily win."

"But what if he gets the Keyblade?"

"We'll get it back." Ventus stopped his hammering and stood, crossing his arms in thought. After Ciel and Repliku exchanged confused glances, Ventus turned to the taller of the two. "So, Repliku, do you know how to use the simulator?"

"Uh, yeah," Repliku answered, a brow raised in question. "Xion explained everything to me while I watched her figure it out for the first time. Why?"

"We should go to the control room," Ventus stated, walking toward the room he mentioned while Repliku and Ciel followed silently, nether having any clue of what Ventus had in mind.

All three of them had been in the control room at least once before, so all of them were familiar with the place. Located at the back of the Holo-room was the control room entrance – a small elevator meant for a small number of people, since the room had to overlook the rest of the floor, where anything and everything could happen.

Once they had arrived, Ventus pointed at the wide panel of buttons, keys and switches, which Repliku took as a command to take a seat on the chair and operate. Except he didn't know what to do with it. "What do you want, Ven? A barren wasteland or a tower of doom?"

"Set up a couple of sound systems around him," Ventus ordered.

"I don't think that'll work," Repliku said. "I'm pretty sure this thing can just make solid shapes and not actual machines."

"Have you tried it before?" Ventus asked.

"No."

"Then try it now."

"Fine." Repliku began to enter a string of numbers and strange characters into the machine as Ventus and Ciel watched in amazement at what happened down entire floor was covered in a green light, and several gridlines also appeared, covering every surface, including Vanitas. From the intersections in the gridlines, shapes formed, looking like a cluster of cubes that sprung up from nowhere. The clusters multiplied around Vanitas, and after a quick flash of blinding light, the clusters of cubes were a circle of amps.

"That looked like something out of a sci-fi movie," Ciel commented after a moment of silence.

"Looked more like a light show to me," Repliku remarked. "Now to see if they work." He positioned his hands over the controls, and failed to recall what to do afterward.

Ventus noticed his difficulty. "Something up?"

"Yeah," Repliku said. "We never tried making machines before, so I don't know how to make them work."

"We'll just go down there and turn them on ourselves, then," Ciel reasoned.

"Uh, I don't want my ears to pop," Ventus disagreed.

"So then what?" Repliku asked.

"Let's go call Xion and see what she thinks," Ciel suggested.

"She probably won't know what to do either," Repliku surmised, leaning back on his seat.

Ventus took out his radio. "Wanna bet?"

"Five munny says she'll be clueless," Repliku announced.

"Ten munny says she won't," Ventus answered. He looked at Ciel. "You wanna bet, Ciel?"

Ciel thought for a moment. "…Sure. Seven munny says she'll find a different solution."

"Deal," Ventus and Repliku said in awkward unison. Ciel was understandably disturbed by the phenomena.

Shrugging it off, Ventus pressed a button on his radio and raised it to his ear. There was a bit of static and an unusual screeching sound, and then Xion's voice got through.

"_Hello?" _Xion called. _"Hello? Is this Repliku? Does he have my coat yet?"_

"Xion, it's Ven," Ventus answered. "Repliku's here, too, and he's still trying to get your coat."

"_What?" _she said. _"Why? It's not that hard to tell him that I need the coat, right? Oh, wait, lemme guess. Repliku asked for the coat, Vanitas told him he was too attached to it, Repliku tried to yank it off, and then they start to fight. Is that what happened? If it was, then I'd be really sad to miss it. But I'd also be happy that it happened, and I was right."_

Ventus snickered, earning him a suspicious look from his company, who couldn't hear Xion. "No, it's not that colorful."

"_Okay. So what's the sitch?"_

"Uh, we set up a couple of sound systems around Vanitas, since he's wearing your coat while sleeping. We were gonna try to wake him up with them, but we don't know how to make them work."

"_So you think I know what to do?"_

Ventus scratched the back of his head. "Um… Yeah?"

"_Well, too bad. I don't."_

Ventus suppressed a frown. "So we can't use them?"

"_Psh, no. You're gonna use them. Now gimme a minute. I'm on a floor with a bunch of useful things. Where are you?"_

"The control room." Ventus thought it was obvious enough.

"_Oh, right. Duh. Anyway, I'm gonna toss you guys something you'll want to use. Ten seconds."_

Ventus covered the one end of the radio. "Guys, she's gonna toss something to us. Look out."

Repliku stood up. "What? How is she going to do that? We're at least a dozen – " He was cut off by a pack of earplugs hitting the back of his head, presumably from a dark corridor. He mentally slapped himself for not thinking of such a simple method.

Ventus swiped them off the ground and raised the radio back to his ear. "Thanks, Xion. We got the earplugs."

"_Good. I hope you know how to use them. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to keep my winning streak up. Roxas has a lot to learn in the world of blackjack."_

"Okay, then. See ya." He switched the radio off, and then turned to Repliku and Ciel. "So, which one of you guys are gonna risk their ears?"

"Ciel," Repliku answered immediately. "I made the sound systems, and you got the earplugs, so it's only natural that he'd give his fair share of contribution."

"What?" Ciel yelled in terror. "I don't wanna go down there and risk my hearing! I don't even know if I have ears!"

"Actually, if you think about it, the risk isn't really that big," Repliku said, sitting back down. "We'd be risking Vanitas's hearing, too. But I hope that they're not set at such a high volume."

"Plus, you could probably adjust it before you turn it on," Ventus said. "That way, no one gets hurt."

"Well, alright," Ciel said, still a little downcast. "I'm going, then." He started to the door, holding the earplugs in one hand.

"Go, Ciel!" Ventus shouted encouragingly, raising a fist. "Make us proud!" The door shut, and it didn't look like Ciel cared much for Ventus's cheering.

"You make it sound like he's going to the army or something," Repliku remarked.

"You never know, man."

* * *

><p>"Victory!" Xion yelled inside the elevator, tossing the cards in her hand out in lieu of party streamers. "Seventh win! Woohoo!"<p>

"Yeah, yeah, you're great, I know," Roxas said, slumping with his head on his hand. "I just need more practice, that's all."

"Actually, that game was pretty tough. Probably 'cause it was Go Fish and not Blackjack. But I can really see the growth in skill. You're getting better." Xion kept a smile as she spoke, and avoided saying that Roxas was a terrible card game player. He should've spent more time with Luxord and Xigbar while he was still in the Organization.

"Well, that's nice to know," Roxas said with mild delight, picking the cards up from the ground. "Did we used to do things like this back then?"

Xion lent a hand with the cleanup. "If eating ice cream together counts, then yes, we did do things like this. With Axel, of course."

"Yeah, he probably came up with the ideas, anyway," Roxas agreed. "Can we get out of here now? I think I'm developing claustrophobia."

_Where'd you learn _that_ word? _Xion thought to ask. "Not yet. Just because I went out of the elevator for a few minutes to get some earplugs doesn't mean you can scram without beginning the lesson."

"But why an elevator?"

"I dunno. It made sense at the time, and I'm sure it will again later." Xion took Roxas's collection of cards and joined it with hers, stacking them together and smoothing the sides out. She stuffed the deck back in her pocket.

"Can we at least start?"

"Well, alright," Xion said, standing. "I guess you don't really have to walk through one to learn how to make one."

"Sweet." Roxas followed Xion. "What first?"

"Well, first, you…" Xion paused in thought. "First, you… Uh…"

"What's wrong?" Roxas asked.

"Funny. I'm not really sure how I learned to do it." She made an experimental dark corridor beside her, stuck her hand inside, and pulled it out to close it. "I'm not sure it it's just a natural thing or if it was one of the things written into my initial programming data, but I can't seem to get how it works."

Roxas was at a loss for something helpful to say, especially after Xion's mention of her 'initial programming data'. He wasn't even sure if it was terminologically correct, even if replica programming could've been different from normal computer programming. "Uh, maybe you need to find some darkness or something?"

"Maybe… I don't know how to get darkness, though."

"Yeah, you've always been more of a light person."

"That's what you think," Xion said. "I've used darkness before. Like when I pretended to go crazy and try to wipe you out."

"Can you do it again?" Roxas asked.

Xion raised a brow. "Go crazy and try to wipe you out?"

"No, the darkness thing. Just the dakrness thing."

"Well, the whole procedure is written into my current programming," Xion said. "It's definitely not something I can figure out like this, since it comes naturally. And if I do, then I might attack you again."

Roxas backed away. "Does that mean you're still programmed to kill me?'

"Yeah, pretty much," Xion said nonchalantly. "But I can go against my programming, like I always have. It's like wanting to eat Repliku's share of the pizza. It's really, really tempting, but you know it's bad, so you turn, and _shun_ the pizza. But if there's someone who keeps yelling at you to go eat it, then you eat it, and then feel terrible afterwards."

For some reason, Roxas was a little unnerved, as well as offended for being compared to a slice of pizza. "But you won't kill me, right?"

"Of course not! When I did try to kill you, I held back by a lot to make sure I didn't go too far. Last time I tried that, I froze and broke. Literally." She held her hand out, but not to Roxas. It was as if she was trying to catch something floating in the air. "C'mon. Darkness, darkness, c'mon…" After a bit of unneeded urging and some foot taps, a few purple wisps of what Roxas assumed was darkness seemed to gather into Xion's hand, circling each other and coming together until it formed something perfectly round, and glowed with some sort of energy that was barely familiar to the replica. She blinked and watched it float in her hand, a smile creeping onto her face.

"…Is that it?" Roxas asked, looking at the ball of energy.

"I did it!" Xion cheered after a moment. "Roxas, look! I got some darkness! Hooray!" Xion jumped around in glee.

"Xion, calm down!" Roxas warily watched the ball of energy fly around with Xion's movements. "That thing could be dangerous!"

"Oh. Right." Xion stopped moving around. "Now what do we do?"

"I dunno. Turn it into the portal or something?"

"I wish it were that simple," Xion said, tossing the ball up and down, much to Roxas's worry.

"Xion, stop that. I still don't trust that thing."

Xion stopped tossing it. "Why don't you hold it, then? It's not heavy at all."

Roxas reached for it, but then pulled his hand back. "What _does _it feel like?"

"It's, um, cold, weightless and intangible. Or something."

Roxas shrugged. "That makes sense, I guess. Give it to me." Xion handed it to him carefully. Roxas took it, held it with both hands, and checked if it was as cold as he thought it was. Seemed about as cold as the air in the fridge.

"…So?" Xion asked.

"So, I'm holding it. Now what?"

"I thought you might think of something while you were holding it. Guess that's a bust."

"Maybe…" Xion took the ball of darkness from Roxas's hands, and examined it from every angle. After deciding it was safe, she crushed it between her hands.

"What the heck was that?"Roxas yelled.

"Just a sec." Xion raised her hand up and opened a dark corridor, then closed it. She opened it again, and closed it. Roxas watched her repeat the cycle over again, without any idea of what she was planning.

"Xion, what are you doing?"

"I have an idea." She created another ball, and held it in one hand as she tried to open a corridor with the other. It didn't work, to her delight. "Okay, take this, then, and deflate it or something." She gave Roxas the energy ball.

He took it. "You mean, like you did just a while ago?" Xion nodded. Roxas, though a little skeptical about Xion's idea, followed her instructions and put his hands together until the ball of darkness shrunk and disappeared. "…And?"

"Now you hold your hand out like this," Xion held her hand out like she did when she made corridors, "and then you sort of will it or something."

"We're supposed to will a dark corridor into existence?"

"That's what I did. It always worked, so I thought, why not?"

Roxas shrugged and did as he was told, holding his hand out and actually _succeeding_ in making a dark corridor. Standing back in surprise, he stared blankly at the obsidian oval that stood in front of him, while Xion clapped her hands in congratulations.

"Nice job, Roxas!" she chirped. "Now you can make dark corri – whoa, don't go in there." She stopped Roxas from entering just in time. "You'll be corrupted or something."

"But you've gone in there dozens of times, even without your coat," Roxas pointed out.

"Well yeah, so now I'm probably full of that stuff," Xion admitted. "That doesn't mean you can do the same thing. Unlike you, I have experience turning into a giant monster and partially losing my control over my actions. You haven't done anything like that yet, so you shouldn't try it."

"Wait, you turned into a giant monster?" Roxas asked.

"It looked more like a giant armored Sora, but yeah, I was pretty monstrous. It happened four times, and it felt really weird. Especially when I used those extra arms. I thought I told you about this already." She closed Roxas's corridor. "Now, let's go find Repliku so I can get my coat back." She pressed a button on the elevator and waited for the Holo-room to come up. "And I need my darkness back by three."

* * *

><p>"Hey, Repliku!" Roxas called, walking out of the elevator. It looked like Ventus and company had changed the Holo-room into an arctic ocean, while he and Xion stood on a floating plate of ice. At the moment, they were surrounded by seawater. Far away, they found a little black spot, which they guessed was Vanitas, ignoring the freezing temperatures for the sake of some extra few minutes of sleep.<p>

"Oh, man!" Xion exclaimed in astonishment. "What did they do while I was gone?"

Though Xion's exclamation was registered in Roxas's mind, he didn't answer, since he was too busy watching Vanitas sleep-fight a polar bear. Xion, who followed his distant gaze, was also drawn to the strange sight. Hopefully, her coat was still in one piece, even after whatever ideas Ventus pulled off.

In the middle of their little show, Roxas and Xion were interrupted by a chopper flying overhead. Ciel, who was in the chopper, threw them a rope ladder, which hit Xion's head before allowing Roxas to enter. Ciel seemed to yell an apology, but it was drowned out by the chopper's blades. After a bit of head rubbing, Xion climbed up the ladder and joined Roxas and Ciel on the chopper. With the three of them inside, Ciel pulled the rope ladder and shut the door.

"Sorry about your head, Xion," Ciel apologized, scratching the back of his head. "I don't have much control over it after I toss it out."

"It's fine," Xion said. "I think my head has been hit so many times that I'm starting to get used to it."

"Those weren't my fault, were they?" Cielasked, a hint of worry in his tone.

Xion shrugged. "I don't know. I can't remember." She knocked on her head in explanation.

"Okay." Ciel checked out the window to see if they were approaching the control room. They'd arrive in a few seconds.

A few seconds later, they arrived, but in an unusual way. The chopper didn't land, but when it hit the right spot, ot instantly transformed into the control room, complete with Ventus and Repliku.

"Now turn it into a desert wasteland, and put some missiles on that corner over there," Ventus commanded, pointing at a random direction.

"You jumped from polar bears attacks to missiles," Repliku noted. "I think you're the only one of us who's that desperate."

"Hey, you're the one who needs the coat, remember?" Ventus retorted.

"Don't go with the idea, Repliku," Ciel said. "I don't want to go back out there."

Repliku finished entering the last few settings into the simulator, and then turned to Ciel, pulling out an earplug. "I'm sorry, what?" He pressed the big green button. And in a bright white flash, a desert wasteland took the place of the icy sea, with a stone road and a railroad going across it, each leading to a cliff was apparently placed smack in the middle of the road, ready to get run over at any time. In the distance, a long-legged blue bird of some sort raced across the land, but no one seemed to notice.

"Is this what you guys did to wake Van up?" Xion asked.

"Yep," Ventus answered. "We've tried everything. Fireworks, metal, lions, falling steak, polar bears, you name it. He just won't get up."

"He might even be a heavier sleeper than you and Roxas," Repliku added.

"Why don't you just… never mind. I wanna see what you're going to do with the missiles."

"We'll show you, then." Ventus snapped his fingers. "Ciel, fire the missiles."

"Why do I have to do everything?" Ciel complained.

"You're indestructible," Ventus answered.

"So are you guys," Ciel remarked.

"True." Ventus nodded. "Well, we all have our roles to play. You just happened to end up as the one who goes and does the more important things. Like missile launching."

"Yup," Repliku said in agreement. "You'll probably get yourself blown up in the process, but if we didn't know that, do you think we'd send you there to do it?"

Ciel had to ponder Repliku's words for a moment to make sense of it. He was very much disheartened with what he figured out. "I'm disposable to you guys?"

"No!" Ventus exclaimed vehemently. "We just think that you might survive it, since you're made of darkness and all." Any sort-of true excuse to make him feel better would work.

"Uh, okay then," Ciel said. Inside, Ventus sighed in relief. "So, I launch the missiles."

"Here's a radio, so you can talk with us if you have any questions." Ventus tossed Ciel his radio, and the humanoid Heartless caught it with little difficulty.

"Thanks." He walked to the door after reviewing the location of the missiles through the window overlooking the rest of the room.

* * *

><p>Since the trip to the missiles was tedious at worst, Ciel decided that firing them, what with their nonstandard design, was slightly more difficult. From a safe distance away from the missiles themselves, a panel similar to the one on the control room warmed under the rays of the sun, waiting to be caught in the blast of a miserably failed missile launch. As a Heartless who wasn't even used to having five fingers yet, Ciel pulled out his radio, which took a bit of fumbling to learn how to use.<p>

"Hey, Ven?" he spoke. The voice on the other line was not Ventus, though.

"_Ciel? What's up?" _Apparently, Ventus told Xion to keep the radio. It made sense, considering she was probably the only one who knew how to operate things like these.

"How do you work this thing?"

"_I'm not sure. I can't see it from here. Hold on, I'll just have to get – Repliku! Repliku, get –" _It sounded like Xion pulled the radio away, and there was a small physical struggle. _"C'mon! There's noth – what the heck? Repliku, what is this?"_

Ciel heard a bit of Roxas – or Ventus – in the background. _"It's… yeah, what is that? It's upside down, I think. Just turn…" _The rest was too soft for Ciel to hear. There was a period of silence that was lengthened by the sun's heat boring down on Ciel, and then, a beep sounded from the radio.

The voice that followed was feminine, but it wasn't Xion's. It was calm, and clearly one of an older woman. The tone it spoke with seemed to be automated. _"Battery charge low."_ Apparently, the battery charge was low.

As soon as Ciel realized what the battery charge meant to him, the radio beeped once more, and the absence of a light static signified the shutdown of the little device. Downcast by the occurrence, Ciel reluctantly walked over to the panel, looking at every button, and at the same time, none in particular. His hand awkwardly glided over the controls, carefully choosing which one to press. With only the memory of Xion and Repliku operating on such machines, he was familiar with the green button, at the least. He thought of it as a button with positive effects, since that was all he knew about it. He hesitantly pressed it, and flinched, expecting something to go horribly wrong.

* * *

><p>"Hello? Ciel?" Xion tried to contact Ciel over and over again. "Well, he's not answering."<p>

"Maybe he finally figured it out," Ventus guessed.

"If he did, then why aren't the missiles flying yet?" Roxas asked.

"Okay, maybe he's close to figuring it out," Ventus corrected himself. "In any case, we should probably just wait here."

Repliku spun his chair around so he was facing the rest of them. "Say, guys."

"Yep?" Xion responded.

"Don't you ever wonder why we went through such great lengths just to get Xion's coat back? I mean, we're using _missiles_ to wake someone up."

They all pondered this for a while. Ventus finally came up with an answer that was just barely acceptable. "It's more interesting?"

"What kind of an answer is that?" Repliku said.

"One that's barely acceptable?" Ventus weakly retorted.

Repliku's answer was cut by an explosion resounding through the window. The four occupants of the room simultaneously turned their head to see what happened, and three of them were shocked to the point of utter speechlessness.

Repliku retained his ability to speak, and pulled Ventus closer by the ear. "We'll continue this conversation later." He pushes him back.

Ciel flew through the glass and landed into the room with a thud. However, the four pairs of eyes didn't follow him as he blasted in. Instead, they were trained on the missiles that headed in their direction.

They survived the explosion, and even spoke fondly of it the next hour over a cup of tea.

* * *

><p>I wrote that last part while listening to "Fate of the Unknown". It was unfitting, even if there were missiles flying straight at them. XD<p>

I extend my thanks to all who have reviewed my story during the period of my 'absence'. You guys rock. Except you. No, not you. The other dude. Yeah, that one.

Anyway, wish me luck on publishing those three stories of mine. With all the homework, I will need it. WILL.

Peace! And have a good day.

NOTE: Repliku's yet-unexplained presence has an explanation. Please bear with us until the time is right for the explanation to be revealed. Also, anticipate KH3D.

KH rant of the day: AkuShi makes no sense. Not only are the two characters the same gender, but they have never met.

Axel? What Axel? AkuShi? I'm talkin' Aqua and Xion, foo'. XD


	12. Sora's Heart: Part Fountain?

Me? Dead? No, I was just busy. During the time I was writing this chapter, I was not only flooded with homework, but I also had a ton of plotbunnies drop into my head. Oneshots, AU's, multi-game crossovers, another story just like this one, and a KH fable, sort of. I've written ~2500 words for one of the oneshots, in the middle of the second chapter for one of the crossovers (which I won't publish until I've completed three chapters and created a solid plot), organized some of the terminology for one of the AU's, and I've also been reviewing fics. If you've seen my reviews, then you know they're more than just comments. I've also been playing KH3D and analyzing the entire series in general. *evil laugh*

On top of that, I've been reading other fics. While waiting for these chapters to be published, I recommend reading "Organization XIII: Fangirl Extermination Squad." It's not at all what it sounds like, and it's got some of the best fanfic concepts ever created.

Anyway, I do apologize for the wait. Over 4 months is just inexcusable. But as long as I don't die, this story won't. Aiming for over 30 chapters, people. Over. Thirty. Chapters.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Ventus Falls<em>**

* * *

><p>Roxas slowly sipped the gradually cooling tea from a porcelain teacup that Ventus had brought from the kitchen, and quickly pulled his now scorched tongue away reflexively. The reddish piece of flesh hung from his mouth as he attempted to cool it down. His company wondered what happened to him.<p>

"What's up, Roxas?" Ventus asked in concern.

"Blegh!" Roxas put the teacup down, careful not to burn his fingers in the process. "This thing is way too hot."

"It is?" Ciel asked, unable to have a sip for himself as a Heartless, even if at that moment he resembled Sora.

"Yeah, here." Roxas held his teacup out to Ciel, and was a little surprised when the Heartless stuck the tip of his finger in it. It had been submerged for over five seconds when Ciel had a reaction. He shrugged.

"I don't feel anything," Ciel told Roxas, wearing a blank expression.

"Well, you're a Heartless," Roxas said. "Maybe you can't feel heat."

"Oh, no, wait, I'm getting something…" Ciel shifted his finger in the cup. "…A bit warm."

Roxas shrugged. "Okay, then."

They were silent for a moment, and then Repliku spoke. "Ciel, how long are you gonna keep your finger in there?"

Ciel removed his finger from the cup and shook it dry. "Not any longer, hehe. Anyway, why are the cups all different? Roxas has this little teacup, you've got some sort of Chinese cup, Ventus is using a coffee mug and Xion is using a wine glass."

"Hey, coffee mugs are cool," Ventus said. "But, you gotta admit, tea in a wine glass is a little weird."

"Who said I was drinking tea?" Xion said, waving the glass around so that the golden beverage inside swirled inside it. "This is paopu juice. You guys should try it sometime."

"Well, I'm not exactly okay with this Chinese cup either, but Ciel is onto something." Repliku spun his swivel chair so he'd face Ventus. "Why didn't you just get a teaset?"

"C'mon, Repliku, it took me forever to find usable glasses," Ventus said. "We're almost out."

"What do you mean, 'we're almost out?'"

"We're almost out of usable cups." Ventus refilled his mug halfway. If he drank too much tea, he'd have some potty trouble later. "All the other glasses have been used. If you check the kitchen, you can find them all piled up together in the sink, and - "

"Roxas, come with me," Repliku suddenly commanded, sitting up room his swivel chair so quickly that it rolled a few inches back.

"Why?" Roxas asked.

"We have to go to the kitchen and get rid of that pile of glasses," he answered with an aura of some sort of military general.

"And why do _I _have to come?"

"Because you haven't done anything to make me question your sanity yet. Now hurry up." Repliku started walking, with Roxas following close behind.

Ciel felt an obligation to wish them good luck, but as the words were about to leave his mouth, there was a cry of "That is _repulsive_!" cutting him off from the kitchen. After a silent moment, Xion stood from her seat.

"I'm gonna go take a look," she said as she made her way to join Repliku and Roxas. Once she was out of sight and in the kitchen herself, she yelled something similar in meaning to the earlier cry, making Ciel flinch slightly. Was what lurked in the kitchen really so monstrous?

Ciel was afraid to ask. "Ven, what's _in _there?" He did it anyway.

"A couple of used dishes and silverware, some leftover food, and some of that stuff that used to be at the back of the fridge," Ventus answered in one breath. "The fridge thing's in the trash, though. Must be toxic."

Ventus's answer was punctuated by a furious "Ventus! Get over here!" from the kitchen. It held so much authority that if it sounded just a little older, it might as well have been Master Eraqus after a well-executed prank. Hesitantly, the blond boy stood from his seat and rushed to the kitchen.

He arrived at the sight of exactly what he had described to Ciel, of course. A grand tower of unwashed plates occupied the sink, while a ring of silver cutlery stood guard around it like the outer walls of a castle, complete with two kitchen knives as soldiers. On the counter, the used glasses and cups were there for all to see, some stacked where they could be and most holding the remainders of whatever beverage they last held settled on the bottom. An unlucky pitcher even had two small cups stuffed inside it. Among everything, some cooking utensils hid themselves between plates and glasses, even underneath some of the silverware, where a wooden spoon stuck out like a wooden spoon in a drawer of silverware. The garbage bin had been stuffed with leftovers from long ago, left to lie there without any rodents, insects, or even microbes to make them rot. The little slice of cake sticking out on the corner looked especially saddening. Despite all this, the white tile floor was in pristine condition.

Ventus never noticed how terrible the place looked until today, because things one ignores in Sora's heart disappear from sight until one remembers them. It was a trick of the mind. At least, that's what they thought. Nothing really made sense anymore, anyway.

Repliku pointed at the mess, and glared at Ventus, who was too fixed on the rest of the kitchen to notice. It wasn't until the replica spoke that he was given the attention he wanted.

"You're this lazy, Ven? Do you know how much of a disaster that's caused?"

Ventus scratched the back of his head. "Well, the clothes always washed themselves…"

"Yeah," Xion chimed in. "The brooms sweep the floor themselves, and the feather duster dusts furniture overnight, so the stuff in the kitchen have to be the laziest things in the station. Next to Ven, anyway."

"Oh, thanks," Ventus said in mock offense.

"You know it's true," Xion reasoned with a shrug.

"Well, I don't care how lazy you guys are. We're getting this place cleaned up whether you like it or not."

"All of us?" Roxas asked. It was evident that he didn't quite want a part of the task.

"_All _of us," Repliku answered. "So you have to go get Ciel and Vanitas."

"Better than staying here and dealing with all the gunk, I guess," Roxas mumbled as he left, hands in his pockets.

"Xion, you're in charge of dishwashing."

Xion blinked, wide-eyed. "Actually, I think I saw a broken pipe while I flew through ceilings back when we had those talking sticks," she hurriedly said. "I'm gonna go fix that instead." She walked out of the kitchen with a smile, happy that her escape plan just barely worked, because she could actually feel Repliku's suspicious stare.

Repliku continued his stare for a few moments. "Okay, then, when Vanitas wakes up, he's doing the dishes. Ven, you're going to keep looking around for other stuff to clean."

"Roger that!" Ventus cheerily agreed as he vanished from the room in a cloud of mist. Repliku was left by himself in the kitchen.

"Now, what do I do?" he wondered. He examined the pile of used dishes in the sink and everywhere else, coming to one conclusion. "I guess I'll just take a small nap until they come back. I do deserve it, after all." He walked through a dark corridor to the nearest couch and collapsed on it.

* * *

><p>Xion pulled up a nearby stool and propped it next to the bed Vanitas was sleeping on, tapping on a table as she anxiously waited for him to wake up. Vanitas still had her coat on and he was still quite detached from the conscious world. While anyone else would've guessed that missile attacks would definitely rouse someone from sleep, Xion had just recently become one of the few that knew there were exceptions, what with their most recent – and odd – failure yet. Though she contemplated attacking him lightly with a Keyblade, Sora was apparently using a Drive Form requiring two Keyblades, and no spare was available to her. A frying pan would've been the next best thing, but a return to the kitchen would've put her in danger of Repliku's wrath.<p>

And so, she waited. For a few minutes, the room was silent, until someone made a soft knock on the door. If it were anyone else asleep in the room, Xion would've stood and opened it, but she was sure Vanitas would stay asleep anyway. "Come in," she called.

The door opened slowly, allowing a head of spiky blond hair to pop out. Xion knew who it was instantly, thanks to the way he spoke. "Oh, there's Vanitas. Is he gonna wake up anytime soon, Xion?"

Xion shrugged. "Doesn't seem like it. He's slept through missiles, he'll sleep through us."

Before Roxas could voice his reply, Vanitas shuffled around under his sheets, grumbling slightly.

"Keep it down," he said through the covers. "I'm trying to take a nap."

Roxas smirked. "You've been napping for more than half a day," he pointed out.

"And you still have my coat," Xion reminded him. Vanitas tore her coat off of him in one swipe and threw it back to Xion in a way it resembled a net. The force of the thrown coat somehow knocked her off her stool, and she landed on the floor with a barely-cushioned _thud._

"There," Vanitas snapped. "Now go away."

"No can do, sleepyhead," Roxas said as he approached the sleeping boy. "Repliku sent me to find you for some urgent job he wants us to do. You have to get up." Roxas yanked the sheets off Vanitas in the same way Vanitas threw Xion's coat off. However, when Roxas finally put the bed sheet way, Vanitas was no longer on the bed. Rather, he was leaning on the doorframe, yawning.

"I'll get to that soon enough, then," Vanitas replied. "Anyway, I'm pretty Xion got here before you did. She owes me an explanation for why."

Xion, free from the clutches of her coat, answered Vanitas casually. "I came here to ask for your help."

"Why me?" Vanitas asked.

"Yeah, why him?" Roxas echoed. "You could ask me. Whatever you're doing is better than the gunk in the kitchen."

"I'm fixing pipes," Xion said. "Still up for it?'

"Depends on the type of pipe," Roxas said.

"Dunno," Xion shrugged. "Whatever pipe it is, it'll be broken."

"And you needed my help, why?" Vanitas asked.

"Well, you haven't been shoved into a job yet."

Vanitas thought for half a second. "Okay, what's the situation?"

Roxas volunteered to answer. "Repliku's asking each of us to clean the kitchen, which collected a lot of dirt over the past few weeks."

"And man, is it a lot of dirt," Xion agreed. "You could make a dirt army out of it!"

"That has to be an exaggeration," Vanitas remarked. "So we all have to pitch in and help clean it up, I take it?"

"That's right," Roxas said.

"Repliku's giving out the assignments?" Vanitas inquired.

"Uh-huh." Roxas nodded.

"If I go there now, my job's gonna be cleaning duty, right?"

"Cleaning duty's everyone's job, Van," Xion said. "But like Roxas implied, there's gunk, and there's non-gunk. Go to Repliku and you're asking for a gunk job."

"Pipe repairs it is," Vanitas decided.

"Sweet!" Xion cheered. "You wanna help, Roxas?"

"Of course," Roxas answered.

"Good, now listen up. This isn't a regular pipe repair job."

* * *

><p>Ciel patiently and silently counted the seconds that passed as he waited for someone to tell him what happened. It had been 20 minutes, and the tea had cooled down to the point that he didn't feel anything when he stuck his finger in it. Boredly, he emitted a sigh, shrugged, and made his way to the kitchen.<p>

However, he passed by a couch, and to his shock, he found Repliku sleeping on it. He clicked his tongue thrice and tapped Repliku's forehead in hopes of waking him up.

"Hmmeh?" the drowsy replica mumbled. "Oh, Ciel, hey. Did Roxas come to get you?"

"I didn't know Roxas was supposed to find me," Ciel answered honestly. "Why?"

Repliku stretched as he answered. "We're planning on cleaning the kitchen up. Everyone was supposed to help."

Ciel's Shadow antennas popped out through his spiky hair, while his eyes widened in excitement. Cleaning was one of his favorite things to do, as unexplainable as it was. "Let's get started, then!" he said with enthusiasm.

Repliku shot him an odd look. "You actually want to help?" Ciel nodded, pulling his antennas back in. "Okay… You should, uh, wash the dishes or something."

"And what are you going to do?"

Repliku tensed. He couldn't answer honestly and say he would continue taking a nap. That would make him seem… unfair. And to be stuck with people who tried to avoid you just for that would be quite the uncomfortable experience, especially if they would end up being stuck in Sora's heart forever. He had to think of an excuse.

"I'll… help you out," he answered unsurely. "All those dishes seem like too much work for one person."

"Hehe, thanks, Repliku," Ciel chirped. "Let's get started!" Immediately, he was on his way to the kitchen. Ciel was probably the only Heartless ever to enjoy cleaning jobs.

_Well, _Repliku thought, _This should be a little interesting._

* * *

><p>"Perfect!" Xion set her equipment down next to a conveniently placed pipe – ten inches in diameter – right in the middle of a room that could only be reached by climbing a tediously long spiral of stairs. "Now I just hope it's clean water going through this. Roxas, where's my stethoscope?"<p>

"Um, right here," Roxas said, pulling an acoustic rubber stethoscope from a backpack he had on. "Isn't this used for medical stuff or something?"

"Yup," Xion said, taking the device. "But we might as well try it here. How else am I supposed to check what kind of weird whatever flows through here? Besides chopping it open, of course."

"Well, I don't think anyone ever needed to make a tool for that," Roxas said.

Vanitas scoffed. "Especially since they never needed to do something like this in the first place," he added. "Besides, what's wrong with a little grime?"

Xion applied the stethoscope to the pipe. "Repliku might get suspicious," she answered. "Now give me a few seconds. I need to have a listen." The sounds she picked up from the stethoscope were unreadable, and she couldn't distinguish grime from clear water with the tool. "Okay, I got nothing. We're chopping it open. Vanitas?"

In response, Vanitas nodded and stepped ahead of Xion, with a battle axe in hand. He gripped it tight, took aim, and swung as hard as he could. The blade of the axe did indeed puncture the pipe, but it also somehow lodged itself in, and Vanitas struggled in vain to pull it out. Finally, he stopped.

"Stuck?" Roxas evaluated.

"What do you think, genius?" Vanitas remarked. "No, it's not stuck. The axe and the pipe are just good friends who don't want to be separated, that's all."

"C'mon, Van, no need for sarcasm," Xion reasoned. "Let's just pull it out or something. All together?"

"You know, I'm starting to think this idea wasn't a very good one," Vanitas thought aloud. "But it's too late to back out now." He grasped the handle of the axe once more and waited for further instruction.

"Looks like you won't be able to pull that out on your own, huh?" Xion observed. "C'mon, Roxas, let's lend him a hand or four."

Roxas shrugged. "Alright." He and Xion each found a spot on the axe's handle to grip it firmly.

"On three," Vanitas began. "One, two, three!"

The first pull was powerful, and a success, as they freed the blade of the axe from the pipe. Unfortunately, they also released a powerful gush of water from the gash the axe left, and Vanitas, who was in the most unfortunate position, was forcefully pushed into the pipe-laden wall, and would've been knocked unconscious if it weren't for his helmet. Once he moved himself away from the rush of water, he motioned for Roxas and Xion to follow him out of the room. Within seconds, they stepped out, soaking wet.

Roxas wrung his sleeve slightly. "Th-that was cold!" he said.

"Seems like it," Xion said nonchalantly, taking her gloves off. She had been kept mostly dry due to her leather Organization coat, but the water that slipped in through the openings of her sleeve was shockingly cold.

"Funny thing is, it's your job to fix it, isn't it, Xion?" Vanitas said as his helmet dematerialized.

"Yep, so I'll need some equipment to keep myself dry while doing it." Xion examined Vanitas's suit, which seemed to have no visible openings. "Is that thing waterproof?"

Vanitas followed her gaze to learn what she was referring to. He then shrugged. "Yeah, but it's not coldproof. Why? Are you planning on wearing it?"

Xion seemed to disregard Vanitas's last few words, more interested on wondering if she'd get some assistance. "Hey, Roxas, you wanna help out?"

"The alternative is cleaning grime," Roxas stated. "It depends, really. Will you be able to keep me dry?"

"Wait right here," Xion said in a hurry, stepping through a dark corridor. She returned about ten seconds later holding another Organization cloak. "Put this on." She threw it to Roxas.

Roxas's reaction was slightly belated, but the coat was fairly easy to catch. "Why?"

"Safety. Now once you have it on, follow me." Xion made another corridor and went through it.

"Hey, wait!" Roxas threw the coat on and took off towards Xion, with the corridor dissipating behind him.

Just as the last wisps of darkness were about to disappear, Vanitas blinked. "Hey! What am I, chopped liver?"

When he was met with silence, Vanitas sighed to himself and made a dark corridor back to his room. Upon entry, he found something amiss. His closet had been left gaping open, and he could feel a slight bit of residual dark energy that wasn't his.

He then shrugged it off and shut the closet. Vanitas knew they were planning on 'borrowing' his suits anyway. He also doubted they'd be able to put it on, but that wasn't his problem. The black-haired Sora lookalike moved to his bathroom to retrieve an oversized hose he found in a junkyard floor and enveloped himself in darkness, teleporting to another pipe room.

* * *

><p>"Where's the squeegee, Repliku?" Ciel asked from the side of the Station and he set down his cleaning supplies on the side of the platform. He and Repliku had already finished cleaning most of the kitchen, and the humanoid Heartless quickly requested that they start to clean the glass of Sora's Station as well, despite its height and the fact that it might not have a bottom. He enjoyed himself.<p>

Repliku, however, did not. He began the entire task of cleaning the Station with Ciel a little grumpy because his nap was cut short, and it snowballed into him detesting cleaning all throughout. He was thankful, though, for Ciel gladly taking most of the work off his hands, and he even managed to sneak in a few snoozes every now and then when the whistling Heartless wasn't looking.

"Here." The silver-haired replica handed the tool to Ciel, and waited for him to take it. After four seconds of holding the squeegee up, however, Repliku looked at Ciel to see what the matter was.

The Heartless was closely examining the glass, as if there were some sort of insect that was splattered onto it. After further scrutinizing, Repliku came to the conclusion that Ciel wasn't looking at the glass, but rather, through it.

Of course he asked. "Ciel, what are you looking at?"

Ciel silently pointed at the glass. "I think I can see Ven running around in there…"

"Ven?" Repliku moved to take a look himself. "How can you tell if it's Ven and not Roxas?"

"Roxas's arms swing higher than Ven's when he runs. His steps are also smaller, but quicker than Ven's."

"Really?" Repliku answered, but he was hardly paying attention, since as Ciel was explaining, he caught sight of the spiky-haired boy as well, and Ventus caught sight of them. The blond skid-turned toward them, ad made some gestures that were likely meant to convey some sort of message, but it looked as comprehensible as a wobbling piece of gelatin to Repliku and Ciel. Just as the two outside the window were about to look at each other and shrug, a wall behind Ventus burst, releasing a torrent of water that pushed the blond through the window. Both Ventus and the rush of water collided with Ciel and Repliku, sending them falling into a possibly never-ending abyss.

"Ventus!" Repliku yelled between terrified shrieks. "What did you do?!"

Ventus took a moment to stop himself from screeching before he answered. "I didn't do anything! I just found this huge flood from nowhere and ran away to find you guys!"

"Where'd it come from?!" Repliku asked.

"I don't know, remember?!" Ventus answered.

Repliku was baffled by the occurrence. As they flew by a few red windows, he realized who the culprit was.

_Xion. _

And she would get her retribution.

* * *

><p>Roxas finished tightening the last bolt on the pipe, tossing the wrench to Xion, who caught it before it could collide with her head. The dark-haired Sora replica put the wrench back in the toolbox and sent it away wrapped in darkness. She gave Roxas a thumbs-up.<p>

"A job well done, my plumbing parody partner!" Xion patted Roxas's back. "That may not have been a parody or an actual plumbing job, but it sounds good, so I'm saying it anyway."

Roxas chuckled. "Thanks. Hopefully it was enough to slip me out of gunk duty."

"Well, we'll see about that. In the meantime, I'll go report back to Repliku." Xion took Vanitas's gloves off and motioned for Roxas to do the same. Once Roxas took his pair of gloves of and handed them to her, Xion began to leave in a dark corridor when another opened behind her.

"Who could that be?" she wondered aloud, closing her own corridor. A rush of water suddenly flew out of the darkness, aimed directly at her face. When it stopped, Xion wiped her face with an ungloved hand, looking only slightly bewildered by the sudden occurrence. She was about to go into the corridor herself when a smirking Vanitas stepped out, holding an oversized hose that slowly dripped from the opening.

"Like it?" he asked, holding the hose up. "I found it in a junkyard floor before I met you guys, thinking it'd be useful sometime. Best choice I've ever made."

"No kidding," Roxas said, impressed by the mere existence of such a thing. He held it with both his hands, taking a closer look. "What's it attached to? Another pipe?"

"A pipe in the same floor I found the hose," Vanitas answered. "Right through this portal. If you want, you could –"

He stopped mid-sentence when he heard the steel door of the room Roxas and Xion were in creak open. Out popped a vexed Repliku, who looked like he could seriously yell someone's ear off. The silver-haired replica shot a glare directly at the other replica in the room, who stared at him oddly.

"What?" Xion asked. "Is there something on my face besides water? I hope not."

Repliku walked into the room, pushing Xion to a wall. "Do you have any idea what you did, Xion? You just created a hole on the side of Sora's heart with your 'pipe-fixing'! Don't you know how dangerous that is?! You might've already caused permanent damage to him!" He began to shake her by the shoulders. "If Sora begins to weaken because of something you did, then he could drag all of us down with him! No, scratch that, he _will _drag us down with him, and we'll all have _you_ to blame! Xion, believe me, if Sora begins to show any signs of weakness at all after this, I promise that I will –"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, big guy." Vanitas yanked Repliku away from Xion, who had a very confused expression on her face. "I think you missed a really important detail when you came in here, detective. If you didn't see it, I was in a dark corridor holding a giant hose, right there." He pointed at the corridor, where the hose was still visible and dripping. "You'd think Xion would have something like that if she started the whole flood thing, huh?"

"You did this, Vanitas?" Repliku asked. Vanitas nodded proudly, and his smirk nearly grew into a grin when he saw Repliku's enraged expression.

* * *

><p>"You were a little hard on him, Roxas," Ventus told his lookalike as he poked Repliku's head with a banana.<p>

"I'm sorry, but I just happened to have an axe in my hands when Repliku was about to attack him," Roxas defended. "You try using that thing, and see if you put out the right amount of force."

Vanitas chuckled. "I could handle it just fine."

"Wow, we are so impressed," Roxas remarked. He was quickly met with a smack upside the head. "I probably deserved that."

"Ah, don't worry about Repliku," Ciel said to no one in particular. "Once he wakes up, the blow to his head he got from the frying pan will probably erase his memory of this whole thing, and Vanitas will be off the hook."

"Do memories work like that?" Xion asked. "So, if I were hit by a frying pan, then would I disappear _again_?"

Vanitas looked at her incredulously. "You're kidding, right?"

"Yeah, I'm kidding." Xion put a hand on Vanitas's shoulder for extra assurance. "I mean, geez, I can't have frying pans as a weakness." She turned to the door when she heard it click open. Ventus and Ciel were heading out, it seemed. "Where are you guys going?"

"We're going to go fix that hole," Ventus said. "It'll be easy, especially with me around."

"Why you?" Vanitas asked.

"Well, Sora fixed mine once. I think I'll be able to do the same for him or something. All I have to do is figure out how that thing he did works."

"Why is Ciel with you?" Roxas asked.

"He likes fixing things." Ventus shrugged. "We'll be back in a snap." With that, they closed the door.

Vanitas snapped his fingers and paused. "They're late."

"Hilarious," Roxas and Xion said in unison. Upon realization of this, the bumped fists – in sync as well.

Vanitas looked at them oddly. "That's a little creepy."

Xion waved a hand. "Just wait. You and Ven will get around to doing stuff like that, too."

In a moment, Vanitas was out the door. Roxas and Xion looked at each other and shrugged simultaneously.

* * *

><p>I'm really thankful for anyone who's stuck with the story even after all those months. I hope this chapter wasn't a grand letdown for anyone.<p>

Now, this might seem really selfish of me, but I need some help. No, it's not serious. Sorta. Just need some readers to answer a poll. It should be in my profile. I'm telling you, it'll help me prioritize, and I'll definitely spit out chapters - and entire stories - out faster. Lots of thanks.

Smiley? :3


	13. Anomalous Intracardiac Pyrotechnics

I don't think I need to announce that I'm still alive and jumping around, since I'm right here with another chapter of this story. I really didn't think anyone would stick with this story so long, since I'm really not that good of a writer in my opinion.

Then again, the reason I started this story in the first place was because I thought the whole idea of the Station of Serenity being an underwater stained-glass skyscraper that operates on the inner workings of Sora's mind was just an idea that was so crazy no one could've done it yet. XD

We've got way more chapters to go. I'll see if I can make it work all the way.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Much Dialogue Shall Follow<em>**

* * *

><p>Ventus's head rested on the pillows as he twiddled his thumbs lazily, staring at the plain ceiling of his room with his eyes half open. He had noticed that the eventfulness of the past few days of the other residents of Sora's heart had gone down a significant amount one day when each of them, one by one, began to go and do something of their own and leave the others the entertain themselves. Ciel seemed to be kind enough to visit Ventus every now and then, but Ventus knew that the little Heartless just didn't have anything to do but observe the others and perform the occasional helpful little deed. He didn't mind, though. At the time, Ciel was the best company he could have.<p>

A weak knock sounded from the door, and Ventus took his sweet five seconds to answer it.

"It's open!" he yelled from the bed. He decided it was too comfortable to get off of just to open a door.

With a click, the door opened and allowed a Shadow's head to poke out.

"Hey, Ciel," Ventus greeted. "Need something?"

"Nah," the Heartless said. "I just came here looking for something to do."

"Stare at the ceiling with me," Ventus offered in jest.

"Uh, okay." Ciel scampered onto the opposite side of Ventus's bed and stared at the ceiling, though all he could see was the ceiling's light and darkness energy radiation. That is to say, nothing. "It's, uh, pretty," he said awkwardly, trying not to be impolite. He wondered what a ceiling looked like through human eyes.

"Yeah…" Ventus said without much thought. "Thanks…"

"Uh-huh," Ciel said. "Um, just like… stargazing… Yeah…"

"Stargazing…" Something sparked in Ventus's mind. "Stargazing… I haven't done that in a while."

"Is that so?" Ciel said, trying not to be rude. "Well… I haven't stargazed in a while, either." Ciel has never stargazed in his life, being a Heartless who existed in the real world for all of about an hour.

"Maybe that's what we should do," Ventus said in a slightly livelier voice. "We should stargaze."

"Ven, not to burst your bubble, but I don't think there's a night sky anywhere in Sora's heart."

Ventus sat up. "C'mon, Ciel, there has to be. We just haven't found it yet."

"Where are we supposed to look?" Ciel asked with odd antennae.

"Every floor in the Station," Ventus answered. He was met with a silent stare from Ciel.

The Heartless blinked his wide yellow eyes before speaking once more. "Every floor?" he repeated.

"Every floor until we find it," Ventus said.

"But, aren't there over a hundred floors in the Station?" Ciel asked. "Are we going to look at all those?"

"What do you suggest?" Ventus asked. "Making a sky?"

* * *

><p>"Making a sky is impossible," Vanitas said, lying lazily on the living room couch. "It'd be easier to just shoot shiny stuff at something black."<p>

Ventus didn't know why Ciel chose Vanitas as the first person to ask regarding their stargazing plan. He hardly said anything useful outside a few smart comments that Ventus gave a little extra thought to, and seemed to be outright annoyed that they were there, interrupting his nap. "How about shooting glitters at – "

"Now, you cannot shoot glitters at me or my hair," Vanitas said firmly. "Go shoot them at Xion's coat or something."

"Xion's coat hardly looks like a sky, Vanitas," Ciel said.

"And my hair does?" Vanitas retorted.

"Well…" Ciel gave that idea some thought for no reason he could think of.

"Right," Vanitas said. "Anyway, why don't you shoot a bunch of fireballs in the big black thing above the roof that passes as a sky?"

"Great idea, Van!" Ciel said.

"But how will we keep the fireballs up there long enough to watch them?" Ventus asked.

"How should I know?" Vanitas said with a wave of his arm. "I'm not exactly a star enthusiast like you. I don't put much thought into those things." He scratched his head. "Besides, I'd fall asleep watching those."

Ventus blinked. "You don't say," he muttered, as if he thought of something he'd rather not have thought of. He could've sword he had once fallen asleep watching stars some time ago…

"I do say," Vanitas said. "They just stay there and don't do anything. I could watch shrubs grow in Radiant Garden and be equally amused. Maybe even more amused, thanks to all the little animals running around and the bugs crawling everywhere."

"You like little animals and bugs?" Ciel asked, his antennae perking up a bit.

"Hey, if I didn't like animals, you think I'd have a rabbit and a gorilla Unversed around?" Vanitas answered. "And I don't care what you say about them, but bugs are awesome. They scare people just by being there." Secretly, he hoped he could one day do the same and turn his presence into the single most terrifying thing in the world, but with a face and a stupid hairstyle like Sora's, it was near impossible. At least his mask looked cool and his suit looked like it was made of muscle tissue.

"Can we stop talking about that?" Ventus asked. "How do we even shoot fireballs into the sky without exhausting our magic?"

"Don't you have a thing that can let you run around on fire or something?" Vanitas asked, drawing circles in the air with a finger. "Or that Shotlock thing that lets you shoot a ton of fireballs?"

"The Firestorm command style just sets my Keyblade on fire," Ventus answered, "and without something to focus on, I can't use my shotlock."

"Well, too bad," Vanitas said. "I'm out of ideas. Good night." He grabbed a pillow and set it atop his face so he could get back to sleep.

"Wait, don't just sleep on us!" Ventus said. "We don't know what to do next!"

"I'll sleep on it, then," Vanitas replied. "Good night for real this time."

"Aw, c'mon, Vanitas!" Ventus said, yanking the pillow off of Vanitas's head. "Ciel and I can tell that's just an excuse."

"Good for you," Vanitas said. He then retrieved his pillow from Ventus's grasp and returned it to its rightful place atop of his visage, where it could do its duty of blocking out annoyances.

Ciel stared at the pillow for a moment, at the spot where he though Vanitas's face might be if the pillow were transparent. "…He's pretty firm on this, Ven."

Ventus sighed. "Yeah… Who else should we ask for advice?

* * *

><p>"You're going to shoot a bunch of fireballs in the sky?"<p>

After realizing that they didn't really have much of a choice when it came to asking someone for advice, Ventus and Ciel decided to just visit the closest person to the living room. Only fourteen floors and an escalator ride – the escalator was a new feature brought by the forces of Sora's heart – separated the two from Xion, so she was the next person they asked. Xion sat on her bed as she listened to the two explain their ideas.

"Yup," Ventus answered. "Since there's no place we can go stargazing, Ciel and I thought we'd make our own starry sky."

Xion looked at them oddly. "So why are you asking me about this?" she asked. "I'm no more magic proficient than Roxas. Probably even less so, in fact."

"We know," Ciel said. "Sort of. You two seem to be on par with each other." He crawled up the Xion's side and silently asked for a scratch on the head.

"It's typically like that," Xion told him. "If it's not, then one of us is probably sick. Either way, I'm not a master magician." She began to scratch Ciel's head as the Heartless's antennae moved around in an expression of delight.

"That doesn't mean you can't think of a way to suspend things in the sky," Ventus said.

"True," Xion agreed, "but it'd still take a stroke of genius to be able to suspend things in empty space like that. Sure, there's flight for people, but no floating for a fireball."

"Don't fireballs float on their own?" Ciel asked.

"Yes, but only for a short time," Xion said. "After they run out of energy, they either vanish or fall to the ground."

"Oh," Ciel mumbled.

"Haven't you ever seen anything inanimate float, Xion?" Ventus asked. "You've been to a lot of places, so you must have."

"You've been to more places than me, Ven," Xion said. "But yeah, now that you mention it, I must have seen something inanimate floating. I've seen the Organization's technology do some incredible things." She closed her eyes in thought, and then opened them and made a face that screamed 'Eureka' without screaming. "I remember something like that!"

"What?" Ventus asked eagerly.

"When I was about to attack Roxas," Xion began, "I was walking on thin air before I transformed. And when I transformed for the fourth time, Roxas was able to walk on air just like me. I'm not sure if it was an effect of the armor or the memories themselves, but my money's on the armor."

Ventus crossed his arms. "Armor? Like Keyblade armor?"

"Almost," Xion said. "Theoretically, I should be able to use it again, since Sora's memories are all here."

"Memories?" Ventus muttered. "What do those have to do with armor?"

"Put simply, the armor's made of memories," Xion said. "Sora's, to be specific." Ventus just looked at her incredulously in response. "The Organization can do that, believe it or not." She nodded to seem more assuring.

"Alright, I'll just believe you, then," Ventus said. "Are you going to use the armor again or something?"

"I guess I will," Xion said, standing from the bed. Ciel looked up, as if trying to say, 'Aw, it's over?' Xion made the time to pat his head before continuing. "So, I'll need some space, because I kinda forgot how to do this." Xion awkwardly held her palm out and stared at the space in front of it for a while, waiting for something to happen. She assumed this position for about ten seconds until saying, "I don't think it's working."

"Keep trying, Xion!" Ventus cheered. "It's probably like riding a bike or something. You can't forget."

"But I've only ever done it once, and even then I didn't really – oh, wait, forgot something." Xion closed her palm. "I think it should work now." As she guessed, dark energy pooled around her feet and enveloped her, dissipating to reveal that she had been equipped with Sora-like armor, as well as floating. "…Yeah, it went something like that."

"You're floating!" Ventus said happily. "Now all you have to do is make other things float like that!"

"Right, well, um…" Xion looked at her orange gloved hands. "Even I don't know how this thing works." She mentally switched off the levitation function of the armor and returned to the floor.

"Can you do anything else with it?" Ventus asked with interest.

"I don't know," Xion answered. "But it's not a good idea to try the armor out again inside my room. I'll see, but in the meantime, you should try asking Roxas. He's not Axel, but he's the only other head you've got."

"Okay," Ventus said, turning to the door. "C'mon, Ciel."

"Coming!" Ciel said. "Bye, Xion!"

"See ya," Xion said.

As soon as Ventus and Ciel walked out the door, a crash sounded from inside Xion's room and they hurriedly returned to see what caused the crash. They found Xon's armored head lodged into the ceiling, and a pair of wings partially made of what appeared to be cards. She detected Ventus and Ciel entering the room, and gave them a thumbs-up. "I'm good!"

"Want some help?" Ventus asked.

"Uh, I'll be fine!" Xion said as she tried to push herself out. "Go find Roxas!"

"Okay!" Ventus and Ciel then left for real.

* * *

><p>Roxas was in a room right next to Xion's, though he didn't hear nor feel the crash due to a pair of blue headphones and an apparently soft bed. When he was asked why he wore headphones despite being the only on in the room, he claimed it felt right and left it at that. Ventus and Ciel did not understand, so they just smiled – or, at least, Ventus did, since Ciel's Shadow form was not equipped with a mouth – and pretended to understand him.<p>

"Sounds like a pretty big idea," Roxas said with moderate interest. "But I really don't know if I'll be able to help as much as Vanitas or Xion."

"But Xion's told me you've flown before," Ventus said. "In Neverland?"

"Well, I can't now," Roxas answered with a shrug. "Find some pixie dust, and maybe we can."

"No pixies here," Ventus muttered, disappointed. "No pixies, no dust, no flight." He sighed.

"Maybe I can help some other way," Roxas said. "What have you guys already figured out?"

Ciel scratched his head. "We figured we'd just shoot fire into space and keep them there for a while. Shooting fire is the easy part – keeping them in space isn't."

Roxas nodded in thought. "And Xion's trying to figure something out by using that armor she has…"

"We left her with her head in the ceiling," Ventus said blankly. "I'm not sure how well that'll work."

"You left her with her head in the ceiling?" Roxas said with wide eyes. "Why?"

"She said she'd be fine," Ciel answered, "so we took her word for it."

"She lies about things like that, you know," Roxas said. "We should check on her. Even if she's wearing armor and probably isn't stuck in the ceiling anymore."

"What could happen?" Ciel asked. "There's nothing in the ceiling that could hurt her, I think. I really don't have much of an opinion on ceilings."

"People typically don't have an opinion of ceilings, Ciel," Roxas said. "Now let's get going to Xion's room."

It was a ten second walk to Xion's room, what with it being right next to Roxas's. When the three of them opened the door, lo and behold, Xion's head was still lodged into the hole her helmet made. Repliku appeared to have entered the room earlier, though, and instead of trying to help Xion down, he merely answered his puzzle book.

"Repliku?" Ciel said. "What are you doing here?"

"Xion, Roxas and I were planning to play Blackjack today," Repliku answered. "But Xion's not in a state to play, so I'm solving some Sudoku."

"Why aren't you helping her?" Ventus asked.

"She's making steady progress," Repliku said. "Just before you guys came in, she was trying to saw a bigger hole into the ceiling with some sort of purple pincer sword." He turned his head towards Xion a bit. "Did you give up on that, Xion?"

"The angle just wasn't convenient!" Xion answered. "It wasn't a very good idea!"

"There you go," Repliku said. "Steady progress, like I said."

Roxas walked up to Repliku and knocked his head. "You should've helped her."

Repliku rubbed his head as he looked at Roxas with a mildly irritated expression. "Does she want my help?"

"Of course she does!" Roxas said.

"Hey, Xion," Repliku said. "Want us to help now?"

Xion, despite having an immovable head, crossed her arms and assumed a thinking position. "Nothing's working, so… Okay, you can try something. But avoid blowing me up, please."

"Can do!" Ventus said. "Are there any Keyblades available?"

"All you have to do is check," Repliku said, mentally tacking on a 'duh'. "Summon one or something."

"Oh," Ventus muttered. "Right. Here we go." He held his hand in front of him and performed the usual Keyblade summoning procedure. A new, red Keyblade that none of them had seen before appeared in Ventus's hand. The guard had red cloud patterns, and the blade had the shape of a dragon's fire breath, with the dragon's head being connected to the guard. The Keychain appeared to be a token of some sort, like a medal, and there was some sort of odd pattern on it that Ventus didn't know the meaning of.

He looked at the Keyblade in his hand for a few more moments, and then spun it like he did in battle. "Perfect."

"What's your plan?" Roxas asked. "The Keyblade and the way you were looking at it was a little foreboding for me."

"Use Fire," Ventus said. "It's fast, easy and reliable."

"Didn't Xion say not to blow her up?" Repliku said.

"C'mon, all that armor has to make her a _little _fireproof, right?"

Roxas shook his head. "I really don't think it does…"

"All right, then…" The Keyblade vanished from Ventus's hand. "Any better ideas?"

Repliku's palm suddenly connected with his forehead. "Of course! Why didn't we think of that? Why didn't _I _think of that?"

"Never mind," Ventus said. "What's up, Repliku?"

"Just make her deactivate the armor," Repliku said.

Sudden realization hit the room like a sack of bricks and flour, and everyone grew silent after realizing how little they truly thought through this problem. Even Xion was silent, thus making her seem a little more like a human-shaped, pseudo-metallic piñata than a person trapped in a suit of armor with her head in the ceiling.

Roxas spoke first. "You heard him, Xion," he said. "Deactivate the armor."

Xion crossed her arms. "Well, I would, but…"

"But…?"

"I, uh… I'm not quite sure how… yet…"

From behind everyone, Vanitas opened the door, and greeted the occupants of the room with a loud yawn. "Hey guys, what's… oh…" He looked at Xion and began to smile, and then the smile grew into suppressed laughter. "Haha, what's going _on_ here? Xion, what happened to you? Why's your head stuck in the… the…" Vanitas let himself go and began howling in amusement.

"Vanitas, this isn't funny," Repliku said sternly.

"Yeah it is!" Vanitas said between breaths. "I haven't laughed so hard in my life! How long has she been stuck there?"

"About half an hour," Ventus told him.

"_Half an hour_?!" Vanitas began to laugh even harder. Everyone decided to leave him to his amusement and figure out how to get Xion out of her predicament.

Roxas picked up from where they left off. "What do you mean you're not sure how?"

"Hey, let's be fair here, please," Xion said defensively. "I've only ever really used this thing once, and it only deactivated when I got beaten badly enough. I never knew how to get out of it manually."

"Beating you up to get you out of there is out of the question," Roxas said.

"I know," Xion said. "I've been trying to figure out how to get out of this thing since I got my head stuck in here."

At that point, Vanitas began to raise his hand. Only Ventus took note of it.

"What's up, Van?"

"I have a suggestion," he said.

"Why should we listen to you?" Repliku said. "You're clearly amused by this."

"Because I wear helmets on a regular basis, and mine isn't a part of Keyblade armor."

"He has a point," Ciel said. "Uh, not that I, erm, would know. It's just, he sounds like he knows what he's talking about."

Repliku considered Vanitas's suggestion for a moment, and then shrugged and went back to his Sudoku. "Go ahead."

"It's pretty simple, though you have to learn it." Vanitas created a dark corridor. "Bye." He walked through it, and the corridor vanished with him.

"What the-" Roxas just looked at where Vanitas was standing seconds ago. "Was he kidding when he said he was going to help her out?"

Xion suddenly spoke up, though it didn't seem like she was speaking to the people on the floor of the room. "Whoa, Van, how did you get up here? Wait, what are you doing with my head?" She began to wave her arms around. "Ow, ow, hey, don't just yank it off! Whoa!"

Xion's head slipped out of her helmet, allowing her to fall through the hole she was lodged in while still in her armor.

Ventus was pleased. "Hey, you're out! Congrats!" He held his hand out for a congratulatory handshake, though Xion used it to pull herself off the floor.

"You know, Xion," Repliku said with a small, fascinated smirk, "you look pretty funny without the helmet."

"Yeah," Roxas honestly agreed. "Without the shape of Sora's hair, your head looks out of place."

"I don't really care right now," Xion said, rubbing her head. "I'm finally out of there. It was kinda straining on my neck, you know?"

"Hey Ventus!" Vanitas called through the hole in the ceiling. "Come see this! I found your starry sky that you always wanted!"

"Huh?" With the demeanor of a child who was told of a birthday present, Ventus rapidly walked under the hole, peering through it to get a glimpse of what Vanitas said was his 'starry sky'. His expression brightened exponentially when he saw it, and in no time, he began to jog in place with glee. "He's right, guys! There are stars up there!" He ran to Ciel and raised the little Shadow so that he could see the sky, too. Even with his yellow Heartless eyes, he could see the energy radiating from the star in the sky, and even the space between them.

"This looks way better than the ceiling!" Ciel said, his antennae wagging back and forth in ecstasy. He was given a few odd looks, but everyone understood it was just some typical Heartless oddity.

After a shrug, Repliku squeezed into a space near the two so he could look through it. "Well, what do you know? It is a night sky." He backed away and crossed his arms. "Too bad you can only see it through such a tiny opening."

Roxas turned to Xion. "Xion, why didn't you see this?"

"The helmet doesn't let you see what's above you, and I couldn't move my head around," Xion answered. "There's no way I could've seen that."

"Hey Xion!" Ventus said, putting Ciel down. "Would it be alright if we blasted the roof off of your room?"

"What?" Xion didn't take them seriously.

"Please? It's the only way we'll be able to see this!" Ventus pointed at the hole, where Vanitas waved stuck his head out to cover the sky.

"Put your head back, Van," Repliku said. Vanitas complied while laughing to himself.

"Try your own room first," Xion said. "For now, I want to keep my roof."

"Let's go, Ciel!" Ventus grabbed the Shadow and ran out the room in a hurry, wearing an impossibly wide and toothy grin.

Roxas was somewhat surprised. "I think he's actually going to destroy his ceiling..."

"That's fine with me," Repliku said. "Besides, we have to patch _this _ceiling up before anything." He pointed above him.

"Easy!" Vanitas yelled from the hole. "Just keep this helmet here! It'll do all the patching we need!"

"Why don't we use your face instead?" Repliku said. "It's big enough!"

"Well, I don't blame you." Vanitas stuck his head out the hole, and without looking at anyone in particular, grinned, raised an eyebrow, and positioned his thumb and index finger under his chin in a check-like shape to emphasize his expression. "After all, who _wouldn't _want to see something as dashing as this every night?"

In a part of the room outside of Vanitas's field of vision, Roxas raised his hand.

* * *

><p>With the help of a saw, patience, and the occasional careless Shotlock blast from Vanitas, Ventus's roof was quickly demolished, allowing him and Ciel to view the night sky that it once covered. It was so satisfying to Ventus how the sky he viewed was not black, but a dark shade of blue, just like the sky last night sky he saw at the Land of Departure. He as on his bed, in the same position he was before he got the idea of stargazing, and already he was getting sleepy.<p>

Quickly, though, he was awoken by the odd sight of a distant blue laser shining into the sky from the ground. Immediately, Ventus jumped on his bed to propel himself above the walls, and land on the soft grass that lay just out of his vision from the bed. He turned and looked behind him. From where he was standing, his room looked like a strange, square hole in the ground, where someone placed some of their furniture and decided to live for a while.

When his eyes turned back to the sky, the laser was gone, though he still remembered where it came from. Looking in the distance, following the ground, he could see four human-shaped figures. Two seemed to be armed with Keyblades, or something shaped like them. Then it seemed like one of them saw Ventus, since it waved at him.

"Ciel!" Ventus called down to his room. Ciel heard and slid through the shadows to Ventus's side.

"Yeah?" he said.

Ventus pointed at the four figures. "You think those guys are Roxas and the others?"

"I sure hope they are," Ciel answered. "If that's not them, then they could be… heart terrorists… or something…"

"I'm going to go join them," Ventus said. "You wanna come with?"

"Yeah, I'll come with," Ciel answered. The two quickly made their way to join the group of four.

Roxas, Xion, Repliku and Vanitas were there, as Ventus thought, though Xion still had her armor on. Vanitas was equipped with the Keyblade Ventus summoned when he was about to blast Xion out of her ceiling, and Xion was equipped with a purple, pincer-like sword.

"Hey, guys!" Ventus greeted. "I saw some lasers back at my room. Was it you?"

Roxas nodded. "Vanitas wanted to use his Shotlock on the stars, but the laser's range just wasn't enough."

"It made for a decent light show, at the least," Repliku said.

"What was Xion doing?" Ciel asked.

"I was going try out my Ragnarok," Xion answered. "You know, to see if it still works."

"Ragnarok?" Ventus's expression suddenly brightened. "That was the name of one of my Shotlocks!"

"Sorry, to burst your bubble, Ven, but I can't use Shotlocks," Xion said. "It's just another one of my attacks."

"Well, go for it, then," Ventus said. "It can't be that different from a Shotlock."

Xion saluted and pointed her pincer-sword to the sky, allowing a ball of light to surround the pincer. The release of nearly a dozen comet-shaped light projectiles made Xion fall onto the ground with a thud.

"You okay?" Roxas asked as Xion got up.

"I didn't know it was so much harder to hold it up to the sky," Xion said, punctuating the sentence with a soft chuckle.

"Help!"

Five heads turned to the voice. Repliku was running as fast as he could, trying to escape the dozen of little comets that threatened to barbecue him on contact.

"Xion!" he yelled, running in circles around the group. "Tell your light things too stop chasing me!"

"Just keep running!" Roxas advised him, familiar with those same light projectiles and their persistence. "They'll burn out eventually!"

Repliku nearly stumbled. "How long?!"

Roxas looked at Xion for an answer. She shrugged apologetically. "Don't know," Roxas said.

The distressed replica gave out a cry of frustration as Vanitas pulled out a camera from his pocket, taking a picture of the scene. At the same time, he muttered to Xion, "You gotta teach me how to do that sometime."

"No way," she said. "You might use it on me. It might even backfire on you." Vanitas rolled his eyes and took a few more pictures.

* * *

><p>Once Repliku finally finished running, all six of them had a fireball shooting contest, to see who could make the most brilliant fireball. Often, however, they exploded in mid-air, preventing them from properly judging fireball brilliance. In the end, Vanitas declared himself winner, and Repliku awarded him with a congratulatory Sora helmet.<p>

Unbeknownst to them, those same fireballs that they shot also destroyed their ceilings, thus depriving them of protection from any future rainstorm. Thunder sounded overhead.

* * *

><p>Oh, right, happy 2013, citizens of Earth! XD Always fashionably late... or not...<p>

I'm sorry it took so long for me to write this one. As you could see in my profile if you looked, I have a lot of fic ideas, and all of them are being made in my head. That sad thing is that I also have original stories in my head, and since they're not fics, I can't show that I'm actually writing them. T-T

Nonetheless, I shall advance! Albeit very slowly! :3


	14. A Diagram's Demise

Hello, everyone. I must make an attempt to express my guilt at the lateness of this chapter, but such a thing is impossible given the limitations of emotional expression over the internet, so I'll just say I'm sorry. It's been like, half a year. No, really, it's the last day of the first half of the year right now, and my last update was, like, New Year's day. I didn't try to make that happen. I was trying to finish this chapter earlier, but I couldn't.

But enough of regrets and stuff. This seems more like a thing people would read in their spare time than anticipate. And such sad things wouldn't fit for a story like this. Now that KH3 has been announced, though, I really have to get it in gear. XD

See, I'm not dead. :3 (But this chapter is pretty short compared to some others. ._.)

* * *

><p><em><strong>Ventus and Ciel Attempt the Impossible<strong>_

* * *

><p>Ventus looked at his nonexistent ceiling with a wide grin of appreciation. The removal of that particular part of his room originally served to allow him to view the night sky before sleeping, but during the day, it also allowed sunlight to pass into his room and illuminate it in the place of lamps and light bulbs. Of course, this meant that he would wake up to blinding sunlight every day.<p>

But that did not decrease how happy cheerful little Ventus was with his missing ceiling. Why, after so long, he finally had the sky to look at, with all its wonders.

And only hours after he was grinning, he stood in his room, ankle-deep in rainwater.

The lack of a ceiling meant that he had a skylight and a stargazing spot, at the cost of a cover for rain.

It took only seconds for Ventus to look around his room to see if there were any of his water-sensitive belongings had been exposed to the heavy rainfall, and when he found none, he went out the door and made a beeline for Xion's room.

"Xion!" he said as he skidded down the hallway in squeaky, soggy slippers. "Help!" It took him a mere half-dozen seconds to slide to Xion's room, and a fraction of that time to grab onto the steel doorknob and slip onto the floor. Above his face, the door opened. He was thankful that Xion had to pull it open, as if it were pushed open, then his poor head would be knocked upon by an unforgiving 1 ½ inch-thick plank of wood. Even higher above his face, Xion looked side-to-side he who called her name, until she noticed Ventus on the hallway floor.

"Yes?" said the slightly amused, equally bemused replica.

"It's raining!" Ventus exclaimed.

Xion didn't quite grasp his predicament, and pulled him up the floor as she further inquired him. "What about it?"

"My room doesn't have a ceiling," Ventus said.

The cogs in Xion's head stopped turning, as they were now unnecessary for her to put two and two together and understand Ventus' problem. "Oh," she said. "Haven't we dealt with this before? Right after we got rid of your ceiling, there was a rainstorm."

"Yeah, but this one dropped by before I even knew anything about it!" Ventus reasoned. "I was unprepared!"

"So your room is soaked now?" Xion said. Ventus nodded rapidly, and Xion continued. "I guess it would be pointless to put up a cover, since it's already wet."

"What do I do, then?"

Xion shrugged. "Just stick around in the living room, I guess."

Ventus' expression brightened exponentially. "Thanks!" He hurried off toward the elevator, only to stop and call back to Xion.

The replica's eyebrow rose. "What is it?"

"Can you keep me company?" He made his best attempt at a pleading face.

Xion was unfazed by Ventus' expression, but agreed. "Sure." She shut the door behind her. "I don't have any plans, anyway."

Ventus very nearly jumped for joy. "Thanks!" He was on his way to the elevator once again, only to stop when he didn't detect Xion following him. When he looked back, she still stood at the door, watching him. "C'mon!" he called.

"I'll meet you there," Xion said. "I need to get something done on this floor."

"Alright." Without another word, Ventus hopped in the elevator the instant the doors made enough space for him to fit, and elevated to the living room above. Once there, he threw himself on the couch and blankly stared at the ceiling that still existed. It wasn't long before he heard the elevator doors whir open, and he turned over to see who it was. Surpassing his expectations was Ciel, scampering across the floor to meet him at the edge of the couch. His antenna twitched.

"Hey, Ven," the Shadow said. "I heard your room was flooded and you came to stay here until the rain stopped."

"That's right," Ven said. "Are you joining us, Ciel?"

The Shadow nodded. "Xion invited me, and I didn't have any reason not to, so of course!" He crawled up to a nearby armchair and took his more humanoid form.

"Thanks," Ventus said. "Even with Xion around, I thought it would be a little lonely. Speaking of which, where is she?"

Ciel put a finger to his face, recalling what she had said before sending him down. "I think she was going to look for a deck of cards."

Ventus was curious. "We're gonna play cards?"

"Not anymore." Xion walked out of the elevator and took a seat on a different armchair. "My cards are missing."

"It was probably Vanitas," Ciel said.

"Why would he steal cards?" Ventus asked. He hadn't known the black-haired, more malicious version of him as well as he should've, but he couldn't think of a reason someone like Vanitas would need a deck of playing cards.

"Probably just to bug me," Xion guessed. Ventus thought that her guess was acceptably logical. He knew it helped Vanitas sleep at night to know that he had bothered someone, somehow, that day. "At any rate, we have nothing to do but talk until I can think of a foolproof plan to take my cards back from him."

"What do you think we should talk about?" Ciel asked.

"Oh!" Ventus' hand shot up in the air so fast he nearly fell off the couch. "I had an idea some time ago!"

Xion grinned at his display of eagerness. "Let's hear it, then."

"Alright, now this might sound weird," Ventus started, "but we're all related to Sora, right?" Xion and Ciel nodded slowly. "Would that make us family in some freaky heart-related way?"

Xion and Ciel exchanged thoughtful glances. "Hunh," Xion muttered. "I didn't really think of that. I mean, I thought I could consider Repliku my little brother thank to his origin, but –"

"Did somebody say my name?"

In a manner that was almost suspiciously well-timed, Repliku emerged from the kitchen in stepped into the living room with, holding a puzzle book in one hand and a pen in the other. "You guys aren't saying stuff about me, are you?"

Ventus shook his head. "Xion was just saying how she thought she could consider you some sort of little brother."

Repliku shot Xion a look of bewilderment and surprise. "Why would I be the little brother?"

"Because you were created after I was, of course," Xion said, "by the same person and in _almost _the same way. The only significant difference is that you were made from Riku-based stuff while I was made from Sora-based stuff."

"Why _are _you in Sora's heart anyway?" Ciel asked. "I mean, you're a Riku."

"I know I'm a Riku," Repliku said. "But I don't know why I'm here either. I just kinda died one day and woke up here the next." He switched the subject of his attention back to Xion. "And I'm still not entirely okay with being the little brother."

"Hey, I'll agree that it's strange," Xion said. "But you were created after I was. You're still my 'little brother'," she quoted it in the air, "at least that way. You act like an older brother enough."

"Thank you," Repliku said, though not with complete sincerity. The issue seemed to have been resolved on his side, so he spun on his heel to return to the kitchen and resume his puzzle solving, but he paused mid-stride, staring at a page in his puzzle book with a blank expression. He clicked his pen shut in one hand, and put it between the pages. "I got lost," Repliku said.

"The kitchen's just ahead," Ciel said. "Just open the door to your – "

"I got lost in my puzzle, I mean," Repliku clarified. "And I don't feel like trying it again, after coming _this _close to solving it in three days." He approached the couch that Ventus was lying on, intending to have a seat on it, and Ventus repositioned himself just in time to avoid Repliku's grumpy fall onto it.

"Are you joining us?" Ventus asked him.

"Yeah, I guess," Repliku said.

"You mean you're actually willing to put up with what we're doing this time?" Xion asked.

Repliku detected the underling surprise in Xion's tone and thought it odd. "When have I ever not? I always wind up involved in whatever it is you guys do."

"Not always," Ventus said, pulling up some example instances of Repliku avoiding his and Xion's shenanigans. "When Xion, Roxas and I were testing out an antigravity room, you ignored our invitation."

"I was busy," Repliku said. "And pretty much every other time, I was there."

"Do you remember when Vanitas tried to create his own Keyblade Glider?" Ciel asked.

"No," Repliku said.

Ciel nodded slowly. "That's because you weren't there."

"And we always make sure to invite everybody," Xion added. "Guess what you did."

"Can we drop it?" Repliku said. "You guys were talking about what, exactly?"

"How you were my little brother," Xion said. "I guess I better start taking an older sister role sometime…"

On the wall closest to Xion, a dark corridor appeared, and from it, Vanitas leaped out, holding an umbrella in one hand and a rectangular, white box in the other. Roxas quickly hopped out of the same corridor, gripping a similar umbrella, and he began to run after Vanitas immediately after he landed on the ground.

"Vanitas!" Repliku yelled as the two ran circles around the living room. "Roxas! What are you two doing?"

"Vanitas took my DS!" Roxas said.

"Give it back, Vanitas," Repliku said. Vanitas's reply was a short pause to throw an odd face in Repliku's direction.

Roxas swung his umbrella at Vanitas, but Vanitas hald out Roxas' DS to block the swing. It was quickly interrupted, and Roxas' face took on an expression of terror and disgust. "You wouldn't dare," Roxas said.

"Didn't I just?" Vanitas said. He swung at Roxas' head, but Roxas dodged it with ease, and pointed his umbrella at Vanitas for precaution. Vanitas smirked. "Go ahead and try to use some magic. See how your precious little DS system gets fried."

"Vanitas," Repliku said with an exasperated tone, "just give it back. Roxas never did anything to you."

Vanitas let out a condescending laugh. "Since when did that stop me?" While Vanitas wasn't looking, Roxas tried to snatch the electronic device out of his hands, but Vanitas anticipated it, and knocked Roxas on the head with his umbrella. "Nice try, kiddo."

Roxas growled at him. "Stop talking to me like I'm a kid. You're no older than I am."

"Where'd you come up with that idea?" Vanitas said. "I was around over a decade before you were. And you're technically a year old."

While Vanitas and Roxas bickered and Repliku tried to mediate them, Ventus, Xion and Ciel continued discussing.

"I guess this would portray Vanitas as a sort of older brother, then," Ciel said. "The kind that likes to play tricks on his younger siblings."

"You took the words right out of my mouth," Ventus agreed. "But this means I'm the oldest, right?"

Xion chuckled. "Yeah, and by a pretty wide margin. You're old, Ven."

"It's nice that he doesn't act like it, though," Ciel said. "Everyone else is either serious, stoic, or Vanitas."

"Hehe, yeah," Xion said. "Now that I think about it, the only thing you and Vanitas really have in common is a love for fun. And your definitions of fun are polar opposites, at that."

To decide on whether he agreed or not, Ventus glanced at Vanitas, who was balancing Roxas' DS on his head, assisted by the arrangement of blackish spikes that he called his hair jutting from it. He was laughing at Roxas at the same time. "…Yeah, you're right… but which one of us seems more mature?"

Xion paused for a moment to contemplate Ventus' question. Ventus certainly acted much younger than his age, especially when put in front of something that excited him, such as ice cream, but Vanitas couldn't truly be called mature despite being Ventus' opposite, since he derived so much joy from childish actions such as stealing Roxas' DS.

"Probably you," Xion answered. "But why?"

"Well, I am technically odler than he is," Ventus said. "I wanna make sure it shows."

Ciel scratched his head. "Well, to be honest, Ven, it kinda doesn't."

Ventus sighed. "I figured as much. Vanitas looks older than I do. And he sounds like it, too."

Xion chuckled. "It does hide the fact that, compared to us, you're a geezer."

"How old _am _I, anyway?"

"I dunno," Xion said. "I think… twenty-something. I'm barely over a year old, meanwhile."

Ventus was about to voice his sadness when an umbrella came dangerously close to hitting his head. He dodged it by ducking, and then looked up to recognize the assailant. Vanitas was grinning widely, trying to attack Roxas. Repliku was trying to break the fight up, with little fruit for his efforts.

"Vanitas!" Repliku yelled. "Give it back to Roxas!"

With all the tact of a thrown dictionary, Vanitas replied by swiftly swinging the umbrella towards Repliku. Repliku, expecting such an action, caught it mid-swing with both hand and pulled it out of Vanitas's hands. Xion applauded him a short distance away.

"I'll say it one last time – give it back, Vanitas," Repliku said, pointing with the umbrella he had taken.

Vanitas shook his head in shame and held his hands up. "Alright, alright, you got me," he said, holding out the DS system. "Take it." With understandable suspicion, Repliku hesitated in taking the device from Vanitas, but eventually reached out to accept it.

At the last second, Vanitas pulled his hand back and held out a fist. "Beat me in rock-paper-scissors first."

Repliku stared at Vanitas' fist. "Seriously?"

"Yes. Best out of twenty."

Determined, Repliku held his fist out as well. "You're on."

While the two were partaking in the duel of the century, Xion, Ventus and Ciel continued their conversation.

"So," Xion said, "I'm Repliku's older sister as well as Roxas' younger sister, Ventus is an old guy and has Vanitas as a brother, and Ciel is Sora's brother?"

"We're one big, happy, dysfunctional family, in a way," Ventus said. "But if we're gonna think of it that way, I kinda think Sora is a brother to all of us."

Ciel began laughing to himself. "Don't you mean – hehe – most of us are like Sora's br-_others?_" When he was met with a lack of reaction, his laughter died down. "Sorry. I'm not as funny as he is."

"Aw, don't worry about it," Xion said. "The only one of us who can match Sora's cheerfulness is probably Ventus. In fact, Sora probably got it from him. Or was it the other way around?" She looked at the heartless for clues, but Ciel shrugged.

"Ven had something of a personality rewrite after his amnesia," Ciel explained. "It could've been either, since Sora's influence began there."

"Yeah," Xion said. "We need some sort of chart to keep track of everything that happens around Sora…" She looked to the side. "I wonder if there's anyone else one the World who has heart-based connections as complicated as Sora."

* * *

><p>Elsewhere in the universe, Terra and Xehanort stood across each other on an air-hockey table, staring each other down and positioning their mallets over the table surface. Terra placed a red circular puck on the table, and struck it diagonally, hoping it would bounce off the wall and into Xehanort's goal.<p>

He heard the pleasant sound of the puck entering the slot, and grinned at a gained point. "Air hockey isn't a game for people with creaky joints, Xehanort," he said, confident that his physical youth gave him an advantage.

Xehanort smirked as he picked the puck up. "You mustn't let your pride get the best of you, young one. There are things that you can only learn with age." He hurriedly placed the puck on the table and made a straight shot with it before it was flat. As a result, it flew and the air and struck Terra's forehead. Terra glared at Xehanort as he put a hand on the injury.

"You don't learn something like that with age!" Terra said. "And that's against the rules!"

"I'm afraid you're mistaken, my boy," Xehanort said. "Hitting the puck once it's flat on the table is more of a safety precaution. Look." He pointed at the puck that was now sitting on Terra's side of the table. "It didn't exit the table, either. It takes skill to perform such a maneuver without letting the puck leave the table."

Terra clenched his fists in anger.

"_Xehanort!"_

* * *

><p>Ciel erased one of the blue lines on the diagram he drew and made a dotted one connecting Sora and Vanitas. "Does this make sense?"<p>

"I think so," Roxas said. "But it kinda looks like it merges with this one, so I think we have to redraw it with a different angle this time."

"Or why don't we just move the picture of Vanitas?" Ventus suggested.

"Then we'd have to redraw all the lines Vanitas has," Roxas said.

"There are only two," Ventus said.

"Yeah, two that overlap with a couple dozen other lines."

From the corner of the room, Repliku yelled in frustration, tossing papers filled with tic-tac-toe boxes everywhere. He then assaulted Vanitas with a stream of words twisted into incomprehensible gibberish by unrestrained rage. Vanitas stared at him until he cooled down.

"Are you done?" Vanitas asked.

Repliku was still breathing heavily. "I give up. We've tied in rock-paper-scissors, chess, Ping-Pong, Battleship, and tic-tac-toe. I've had enough. You can go ahead and keep Roxas' DS."

At that, Vanitas began to laugh. "No, no, here, you can take it now." He pulled Roxas' DS out of his pocket and put it on the table. "I think I've messed with you enough. I'll give it back so I can steal it another day." He then stood from his seat, stretched, and walked to Roxas, Ciel and Ventus. Crossing his arms, he examined the diagram they had. It appeared to be a heart connection map involving everyone Sora's ever met, as well as those he hasn't met but were still connected to, such as the inhabitants of his heart. As Vanitas expected, it was extremely convoluted and difficult to decipher, and if he hadn't knows better, it would've just been a mess of lines and colors on paper.

"Hey Van," Ciel greeted. "What do you think?"

"About you're drawing?" Vanitas answered. "It's such a mess that I can't think at all while I'm looking at it."

"Then it's decided," Roxas said. "We have to redo it."

Ventus and Ciel released a simultaneous, "Aw, man." Meanwhile, Xion entered with a pair of umbrellas.

"Roxas," she said. "Do you have your DS back?"

"Vanitas," Roxas said. "Do I have my DS back?"

"Yeah," Vanitas said. "Xion, what are those umbrellas for?"

Xion held the umbrellas up, and grinned. "I have an idea, but I need Roxas' help. And his DS."

"Oh no." Roxas stood up and took one of the umbrellas from Xion. "Xion, we're friends and everything, so I hope you don't take it badly when I say that I'm not letting you near my DS with umbrellas."

"I could ask Ventus instead," Xion said. "Or Vanitas. Anyone here, really. Except Repliku."

"No," Roxas insisted.

"I'm only gonna mess with the system. I'll take the game card out, too, if you want."

"Then go ahead."

"Yes!" Triumphantly, Xion raised the umbrella she was holding and rushed to the table that Roxas' DS sat atop. She put it in the center of the room, took the game card and placed it in safe place, and looked at Roxas. "We're going to fire lasers at it, Roxas. Lasers made of darkness and light."

"What's _that _supposed to accomplish?" Roxas asked.

"I don't know," Xion said. "But I think recent changes in the World outside Sora's heart might trigger something. Just trust me on this." She stood across from Roxas, and pointed at the DS with her umbrella. "On the count of three, okay?"

Roxas shrugged and mimicked Xion, pointing at the DS with the umbrella he took from her. "Okay."

"Wait a minute, guys," Ciel said. "Just let me and Ventus move away from any danger, okay?" Ciel pushed Ventus behind a couch and hid behind it, peeking from over the backrests. He gave them a thumbs-up to signal that it was okay for them to start.

Xion nodded. "One, two, three!"

She and Roxas simultaneously fired beams of white and purple at the DS, and the device began to glow in a pinkish light, with sparks of the same color beginning to fly around. The glow intensified for a few seconds before Roxas and Xion ceased fire, and on its own, the energy around the DS burst. One the light had faded, the device had changed shape, slightly, and two small black lenses appeared on the upper half. When Roxas picked it up, he noted that it was heavier.

"What's up with this?" Roxas asked. He opened it and saw that the top screen was wider, while for the bottom half, a circular, pad-like object rested above the D-pad. "Was it upgraded or something?"

"I think it was!" Xion said. "Go use it or something."

"Give me back my game card, first," Roxas said. Xion hurriedly grabbed the game card from atop the table and handed it to Roxas. "Thanks."

"Let's go," Xion said, enthusiastically pushing Roxas to the elevator. "I wanna see exactly how it was upgraded." The two of them disappeared behind the elevator doors.

Ciel and Ventus rose from behind the couch, and looked at their diagram. They had neglected to bring it with them for protection, so it became a scorched rectangle on the ground.

Ventus sighed. "There goes an hour of work."

"Re-doing it is still an option," Ciel said, though his disheartening was still clear in his speech.

The two stared at the paper for a few seconds.

Ventus ran to the elevator. "I'm gonna go see what Xion and Roxas are doing."

"Right behind you!" Ciel followed him.

Meanwhile, behind them, Repliku picked up a broom and a dustpan, beginning to sweep the charred remains of their heart map clean.

* * *

><p>Why are my updates so slow? I'm working on another story right now, and the premise is probably one that you guys have heard before: The Keyblade War. Between the last chapter and this one, I've gotten four chapters of it out, and it's about 35,000 words long right now. Like with most of the things I do (even if it's not evident) I put a lot of research and thought into what I make. That scene earlier with the air hockey? I studied some air hockey for that. But that's a minor example. For that particular story, I'm rewatching Disney movies and studying them, from the concepts to the characters to the development processes to the setting, etc. For a nerd like me, that's quite a ride. XD<p>

So if you're bored with this or waiting for the next chapter, you could check that out. :3

Anyway, reviews for this would be most welcome. Complaints for the lateness of the chapter are also welcome, because I might work faster if I knew people were bugged enough to tell me about it. :3


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